must read nonfiction
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One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
Omar El Akkad · 2025
The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
John Green · 2021
Letter to My Daughter
Maya Angelou · 2008
<b><i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER • Maya Angelou shares her path to living well and with meaning in this absorbing book of personal essays.</b><br> <br> Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, <i>Letter to My Daughter</i> transcends genres and categories: guidebook, memoir, poetry, and pure delight.<br><br> Here in short spellbinding essays are glimpses of the tumultuous life that led Angelou to an exalted place in American letters and taught her lessons in compassion and fortitude: how she was brought up by her indomitable grandmother in segregated Arkansas, taken in at thirteen by her more worldly and less religious mother, and grew to be an awkward, six-foot-tall teenager whose first experience of loveless sex paradoxically left her with her greatest gift, a son.<br><br> Whether she is recalling such lost friends as Coretta Scott King and Ossie Davis, extolling honesty, decrying vulgarity, explaining why becoming a Christian is a “lifelong endeavor,” or simply singing the praises of a meal of red rice–Maya Angelou writes from the heart to millions of women she considers her extended family. <br><br> Like the rest of her remarkable work, <i>Letter to My Daughter</i> entertains and teaches; it is a book to cherish, savor, re-read, and share.<br><br> <b>“I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters. You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish speaking, Native Americans and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all. Here is my offering to you.”—from <i>Letter to My Daughter</i></b>
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life
Amy Krouse Rosenthal · 2005
How do you conjure a life? Give the truest account of what you saw, felt, learned, loved, strived for? <br>For Amy Krouse Rosenthal, the surprising answer came in the form of an encyclopedia. In Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life she has ingeniously adapted this centuries-old format for conveying knowledge into a poignant, wise, often funny, fully realized memoir. Using mostly short entries organized from A to Z, many of which are cross-referenced, Rosenthal captures in wonderful and episodic detail the moments, observations, and emotions that comprise a contemporary life. Start anywhere-- preferably at the beginning-- and see how one young woman' s alphabetized existence can open up and define the world in new and unexpected ways. <br>An ordinary life, perhaps, but an extraordinary book.
Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir
Kai Cheng Thom · 2016
Fiction. LGBTQIA Studies. Asian and Asian American Studies. Young Adult. FIERCE FEMMES AND NOTORIOUS LIARS: A DANGEROUS TRANS GIRL'S CONFABULOUS MEMOIR is the highly sensational, ultra-exciting, sort-of true coming-of-age story of a young Asian trans girl, pathological liar, and kung-fu expert who runs away from her parents' abusive home in a rainy city called Gloom. Striking off on her own, she finds her true family in a group of larger-than-life trans femmes who live in a mysterious pleasure district known only as the Street of Miracles. Under the wings of this fierce and fabulous flock, the protagonist blossoms into the woman she has always dreamed of being, with a little help from the unscrupulous Doctor Crocodile. When one of their number is brutally murdered, she joins her sisters in forming a vigilante gang to fight back against the transphobes, violent johns, and cops that stalk the Street of Miracles. But when things go terribly wrong, she must find the truth within herself in order to stop the violence and discover what it really means to grow up and find your family.
Citizen: An American Lyric
Claudia Rankine · 2014
* Finalist for the National Book Award in Poetry *<br/>* Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry * Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism * Winner of the NAACP Image Award * Winner of the L.A. Times Book Prize * Winner of the PEN Open Book Award *<br/><br/>ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR:<br/>The New Yorker, Boston Globe, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, NPR. Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, Slate, Time Out New York, Vulture, Refinery 29, and many more . . .<br/><br/>A provocative meditation on race, Claudia Rankine's long-awaited follow up to her groundbreaking book Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric.<br/><br/>Claudia Rankine's bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams and the soccer field with Zinedine Zidane, online, on TV-everywhere, all the time. The accumulative stresses come to bear on a person's ability to speak, perform, and stay alive. Our addressability is tied to the state of our belonging, Rankine argues, as are our assumptions and expectations of citizenship. In essay, image, and poetry, Citizen is a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in our contemporary, often named "post-race" society.
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement
Angela Y. Davis · 2016
In this collection of essays, interviews, and speeches, the renowned activist examines today’s issues—from Black Lives Matter to prison abolition and more. Activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis has been a tireless fighter against oppression for decades. Now, the iconic author of Women, Race, and Class offers her latest insights into the struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world. Reflecting on the importance of black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles, from the Black Freedom Movement to the South African anti-Apartheid movement. She highlights connections and analyzes today’s struggles against state terror, from Ferguson to Palestine. Facing a world of outrageous injustice, Davis challenges us to imagine and build a movement for human liberation. And in doing so, she reminds us that “freedom is a constant struggle.” This edition of Freedom Is a Constant Struggle includes a foreword by Dr. Cornel West and an introduction by Frank Barat.
On Disinformation: How To Fight For Truth And Protect Democracy
Lee McIntyre · 2023
Learn how to fight against the disinformation campaigns imperiling American democracy in this empowering, pocket-sized guide from the author of How to Talk to a Science Denier. INSIDE THE WAR ON TRUTH: Explore the history of how disinformation has been weaponized to manipulate society. The effort to destroy facts and make America ungovernable didn’t come out of nowhere. It is the culmination of 70 years of strategic denialism. In On Disinformation, Lee McIntyre shows how the war on facts began, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society. Drawing on his 20 years of experience as a scholar of science denial, McIntyre explains how autocrats wield disinformation to manipulate a populace and deny obvious realities; why the best way to combat disinformation is to disrupt its spread; and most importantly, how we can win the war on truth. McIntyre takes readers through the history of strategic denialism to show how we arrived at this precarious political moment and identifies the creators, amplifiers, and believers of disinformation. Along the way, he also demonstrates how today’s “reality denial” follows the same flawed blueprint of the “five steps of science denial” used by climate deniers and anti-vaxxers; shows how Trump has emulated disinformation tactics created by Russian and Soviet intelligence dating back to the 1920s; provides interviews with leading experts on information warfare, counterterrorism, and political extremism; and spells out the need for algorithmic transparency from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. On Disinformation lays out ten everyday practical steps that we can take as ordinary citizens—from resisting polarization to pressuring our Congresspeople to regulate social media—as well as the important steps our government (if we elect the right leaders) must take. Compact, easy-to-read (and then pass on to a friend), and never more urgent, On Disinformation does nothing less than empower us with the tools and knowledge needed to save our republic from autocracy before it is too late.
Crying in H Mart
Michelle Zauner · 2021
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American—“in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself” (NPR). • CELEBRATING OVER ONE YEAR ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band--and meeting the man who would become her husband--her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother's diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her. Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner's voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, and complete with family photos, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
Patrisse Khan-Cullors, asha bandele · 2018
<p><b>THE INSTANT <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER. <br><i>New York Times </i>Editor’s Pick.</b> <br><b><i>Library Journal</i> Best Books of 2019.</b> <b><br><i>TIME </i>Magazine's "Best Memoirs of 2018 So Far."<br><i>O</i>, Oprah’s Magazine’s “10 Titles to Pick Up Now.” <br>Politics & Current Events 2018 O.W.L. Book Awards Winner <br><i>The Root </i>Best of 2018<br></b><br><b>"This remarkable book reveals what inspired Patrisse's visionary and courageous activism and forces us to face the consequence of the choices our nation made when we criminalized a generation. This book is a must-read for all of us." - Michelle Alexander, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>The New Jim Crow</i></b><br><br><b>A poetic and powerful memoir about what it means to be a Black woman in America—and the co-founding of a movement that demands justice for all in the land of the free.</b><br><br>Raised by a single mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Los Angeles, Patrisse Khan-Cullors experienced firsthand the prejudice and persecution Black Americans endure at the hands of law enforcement. For Patrisse, the most vulnerable people in the country are Black people. Deliberately and ruthlessly targeted by a criminal justice system serving a white privilege agenda, Black people are subjected to unjustifiable racial profiling and police brutality. In 2013, when Trayvon Martin’s killer went free, Patrisse’s outrage led her to co-found Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.<br><br>Condemned as terrorists and as a threat to America, these loving women founded a hashtag that birthed the movement to demand accountability from the authorities who continually turn a blind eye to the injustices inflicted upon people of Black and Brown skin. <br><br>Championing human rights in the face of violent racism, Patrisse is a survivor. She transformed her personal pain into political power, giving voice to a people suffering inequality and a movement fueled by her strength and love to tell the country—and the world—that Black Lives Matter.<br><br> <i>When They Call You a Terrorist </i>is Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele’s reflection on humanity. It is an empowering account of survival, strength and resilience and a call to action to change the culture that declares innocent Black life expendable.</p>
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life And Freedom On Death Row
Anthony Ray Hinton · 2018
The Complete Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi · 2007
Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution
Laurie Penny · 2014
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Lori Gottlieb · 2019
Gender Queer
Maia Kobabe · 2019
My Body
Emily Ratajkowski · 2021
Between the World and Me
Ta-Nehisi Coates · 2015
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
Lindsay C. Gibson · 2015
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Alison Bechdel · 2007
Reading
She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement
Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey · 2019
Heart Berries
Terese Marie Mailhot · 2018
A Burst of Light: And Other Essays
Audre Lorde · 2017
Know My Name
Chanel Miller · 2020
