Recommendations based on Are Prisons Obsolete?by Angela Y. Davis

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Assata: An Autobiography

    by Assata Shakur
    A powerful memoir of her struggles and triumphs in the face of racism and oppression.

    On May 2, 1973, Black Panther Assata Shakur (aka JoAnne Chesimard) lay in a hospital, close to death, handcuffed to her bed, while local, state, and federal police attempted to question her about the ... (Goodreads)

  2. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

    by Audre Lorde
    Collection of essays and speeches exploring issues of race, gender, sexuality, and liberation.

    A collection of fifteen essays written between 1976 and 1984 gives clear voice to Audre Lorde's literary and philosophical personae. These essays explore and illuminate the roots of Lorde's ... (Goodreads)

  3. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

    by Michelle Alexander
    Exploring the roots and reality of systemic racism in the U.S. criminal justice system.

    "Jarvious Cotton's great-great-grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Klu Klux Klan for attempting to vote. His grandfather was prevented from voting ... (Goodreads)

  4. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza

    by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
    Exploration of the hybrid identity of Chicana women, navigating between two cultures.

    Anzaldua, a Chicana native of Texas, explores in prose and poetry the murky, precarious existence of those living on the frontier between cultures and languages. Writing in a lyrical mixture of ... (Goodreads)

  5. The Autobiography of Malcolm X

    by Malcolm X
    A gripping account of one man's transformation from criminal to civil rights leader.

    Alternate cover for ISBN 9780345350688 Through a life of passion and struggle, Malcolm X became one of the most influential figures of the 20th Century. In this riveting account, he tells of his ... (Goodreads)

  6. Women, Race & Class

    by Angela Y. Davis
    Examining the intersections of women's liberation, civil rights, and class struggle in the United States.

    From one of our most important scholars and civil rights activist icon, a powerful study of the women’s liberation movement and the tangled knot of oppression facing Black women.,"Angela Davis is ... (Goodreads)

  7. Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

    by Janet Mock
    A memoir of a transgender woman's journey of self-discovery and her experiences of the world.

    In 2011, Marie Claire magazine published a profile of Janet Mock in which she stepped forward for the first time as a trans woman. Those 2300 words were life-altering for the People.com editor, ... (Goodreads)

  8. A People's History of the United States

    by Howard Zinn
    An examination of American history from a perspective of marginalized people.

    In the book, Zinn presented a different side of history from the more traditional "fundamental nationalist glorification of country". Zinn portrays a side of American history that can largely be seen ... (Goodreads)

  9. Between the World and Me

    by Ta-Nehisi Coates
    A letter to his son, exploring the realities of racism in America.

    “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American ... (Goodreads)

  10. The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction

    by Michel Foucault
    Examination of the power dynamics and social constructions of sexual behavior.

    Michel Foucault offers an iconoclastic exploration of why we feel compelled to continually analyze and discuss sex, and of the social and mental mechanisms of power that cause us to direct the ... (Goodreads)

  11. Citizen: An American Lyric

    by Claudia Rankine
    Poetic exploration of racial injustice, highlighting the everyday experiences of racism.

    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. Claudia Rankine's bold new book recounts mounting ... (Goodreads)

  12. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

    by Alison Bechdel
    An autobiographical story of a daughter's complex relationship with her father and her own journey of self-discovery.

    The narrative of Fun Home is non-linear and recursive. , Incidents are told and re-told in the light of new information or themes. , Bechdel describes the structure of Fun Home as a labyrinth , ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

    by bell hooks
    Exploration of feminist thought and its applications to everyday life.

    Acclaimed cultural critic bell hooks offers an open-hearted and welcoming vision of gender, sexuality, and society in this inspiring and accessible volume. In engaging and provocative style, bell ... (Goodreads)

  14. Black Skin, White Masks

    by Frantz Fanon
    Examining the psychological and social effects of colonialism on people of color.

    A major influence on civil rights, anti-colonial, and black consciousness movements around the world, Black Skin, White Masks is the unsurpassed study of the black psyche in a white world. Hailed for ... (Goodreads)

  15. The Wretched of the Earth

    by Frantz Fanon
    A political analysis of colonialism and its effects on the global underclass.

    A distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique who took part in the Algerian Nationalist Movement, Frantz Fanon was one of the most important theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, and ... (Goodreads)

  16. Tao Te Ching

    by Lao Tzu
    A collection of wise sayings and reflections on the nature of existence.

    A lucid translation of the well-known Taoist classic by a leading scholar-now in a Shambhala Pocket Library edition. Written more than two thousand years ago, the Tao Teh Ching , or -The Classic of ... (Goodreads)

  17. Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism

    by bell hooks
    A critical analysis of the intersectionality of race, gender, and class in the experiences of Black women in America.

    A groundbreaking work of feminist history and theory analyzing the complex relations between various forms of oppression. Ain't I a Woman examines the impact of sexism on black women during slavery, ... (Goodreads)

  18. Orientalism

    by Edward W. Said
    Exploration of the Middle East through the West's prejudiced lens.

    More than three decades after its first publication, Edward Said's groundbreaking critique of the West's historical, cultural, and political perceptions of the East has become a modern classic. In ... (Goodreads)

  19. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir

    by Patrisse Khan-Cullors
    A memoir of a Black Lives Matter co-founder, detailing her experiences with racism, police brutality, and the fight for justice.

    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. Raised by a single mother in an ... (Goodreads)

  20. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

    by Audre Lorde
    A powerful autobiographical account exploring themes of gender, race, and sexuality.

    Audre Lorde grows up in Harlem in the 1930s and 1940s, a child of Black West Indian parents. Lorde is legally blind from a very young age, isolating her even further from her surroundings and a ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

    by Michel Foucault
    Examines the emergence of the modern prison system and its effects on society.

    Librarian note: an alternate cover for this edition can be found, here,. Barely two hundred and fifty years ago a man condemned of attempting to assassinate the King of France was drawn and quartered ... (Goodreads)

  22. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures

    by Anne Fadiman
    Exploring the cultural divide between the Hmong people and the medical establishment.

    Lia Lee was born in 1982 to a family of recent Hmong immigrants, and soon developed symptoms of epilepsy. By 1988 she was living at home but was brain dead after a tragic cycle of misunderstanding, ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Fire Next Time

    by James Baldwin
    Reflection on the plight of African Americans in a candid and deeply moving essay.

    A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James ... (Goodreads)

  24. We Should All Be Feminists

    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    A call to action for an inclusive, gender-equal society through an examination of feminism.

    What does “feminism” mean today? That is the question at the heart of We Should All Be Feminists , a personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name—by ... (Goodreads)

  25. The State and Revolution

    by Vladimir Lenin
    Exploring the idea of a socialist state, and the role of the working class in revolution.

    1917-ci ilin avqust-sentyabr aylarında yazılan yaradıcı marksizmin bu görkəmli əsəri – “Dövlət və inqilab” dövlət nəzəriyyəsinin öz dərinliyi və əhatəliliyi cəhətdən misilsiz elmi şərhidir, ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Communist Manifesto

    by Karl Marx
    A treatise on the fundamental principles of communism, and its role in society.

    A rousing call to arms whose influence is still felt today Originally published on the eve of the 1848 European revolutions, The Communist Manifesto is a condensed and incisive account of the ... (Goodreads)

  27. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

    by Bryan Stevenson
    A powerful true story of justice and redemption, exposing the flaws of America's criminal justice system.

    In 1989, idealistic young Harvard law graduate Bryan Stevenson travels to Alabama hoping to help fight for poor people who cannot afford proper legal representation. Teaming with Eva Ansley, he ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

    by Beverly Daniel Tatum
    Exploration of racial identity and the role of schools in creating and maintaining racial divides.

    Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? Beverly ... (Goodreads)

  29. Pedagogy of the Oppressed

    by Paulo Freire
    Analysis of the educational system, advocating a pedagogy of liberation.

    First published in Portuguese in 1968, Pedagogy of the Oppressed was translated and published in English in 1970. The methodology of the late Paulo Freire has helped to empower countless impoverished ... (Goodreads)

  30. You Don't Have to Say You Love Me

    by Sherman Alexie
    A memoir about the troubled relationship between a Spokane Indian father and his son.

    A searing, deeply moving memoir about family, love, loss, and forgiveness from the critically acclaimed, bestselling National Book Award-winning author of, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time ... (Barnes & Noble)