Cultural Literature

In Lose Your Mother, Saidiya Hartman traces the history of the Atlantic slave trade by recounting a journey she took along a slave route in Ghana. Following the trail of captives from the hinterland to the Atlantic coast, she reckons with the blank slate...

"Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history - and then go out and change it." -President Barack Obama Nelson Mandela was one of the great moral and political leaders of his time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the...

A guide to conflict resolution, or as the author prefers, "conflict transformation" that emphasizes the importance of building relationships and social structures through a radical respect for human rights and life. This clearly articulated statement...

"Destined to become one of the classics of the genre" (Newsweek), the riveting, unforgettable story of a girl whose indomitable spirit is tested by homelessness, poverty, and racism in an unequal America--from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Andrea...

The unflinching nineteenth-century autobiography that broke the silence on the psychosexual exploitation of Black women--with an introduction by Tiya Miles, author of All That She Carried and National Book Award finalist "[A] crowning achievement . . ...

As a 6'2" dreadlocked black man, Tyler Merritt knows what it feels like to be stereotyped as threatening, which can have dangerous consequences. But he also knows that proximity to people who are different from ourselves can be a cure for racism. Tyler...

The bestselling autobiography of American baseball and civil rights legend Jackie RobinsonBefore Reggie Jackson, before Hank Aaron, baseball's stars had one undeniable trait in common: they were all white. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke that barrier,...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - An intimate and revealing portrait of civil rights icon and longtime U.S. congressman John Lewis, linking his life to the painful quest for justice in America from the 1950s to the present--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning...

HIP-HOP (AND OTHER THINGS) is about, as it were, rap, but also some other things. It's a smart, fun, funny, insightful book that spends the entirety of its time celebrating what has become the most dominant form of music these past two and a half decades...

The fascinating story of a friendship, a lost tradition, and an incredible discovery, revealing how enslaved men and women made encoded quilts and then used them to navigate their escape on the Underground Railroad. In Hidden in Plain View, historian...

Two world wars, the Civil Rights movement, and a Jheri curl later, Blacks in America continue to have a complex and convoluted relationship with their hair. From the antebellum practice of shaving the head in an attempt to pass as a free person to the...

"Transfixing...[Wayne's] prison diary is, above all, a testament to the irrepressibility of his charisma--his is a force that can never go dormant, even when it's not plainly on display." -The New Yorker From rap superstar Lil Wayne comes Gone 'Til...

A People Pick!"One of the year's must-reads." -ELLE"[A] provocative, heart-breaking, and frequently hilarious collection." -GLAMOUR"Essential, vital, and urgent." -HARPER'S BAZAARIn the vein of Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist and Issa Rae's The Misadventures...

What is divine feminine energy, and how can we channel it? Force of Nature explores this question through the lens of an African woman grappling with childhood, womanhood, cultural identity, and the societal issues that disproportionately affect women...

A vividly told tale of a forgotten American hero--an impassioned newsman who fought for the right to speak out against slavery. The history of the fight for free press has never been more vital in our own time, when journalists are targeted as "enemies...