Subject: Fighting Misinformation/Saving Democracy>> Informative and urgent, these books dissect the political divide and rally us to fight for democracy.

Democracy Awakening Notes on the State of America by Heather Cox Richardson

Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics and How to Cure It by Richard I. Hasen

The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats are Reinventing Politics for the 21st Century by Moises Niam

The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America by Michael Waldman

Subject: Us & Them/ Understanding Group Think & Controlling the Powers Beyond Our Control>> Explorations into cults, the draw of the seemingly irrational, blueprints for connection and understanding systematic forms of disenfranchisement

Cultish the Language of Fanaticism by Manda Montell

Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions by Todd Rose

The Power of Harnassing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony by  Jay J. Van Bavel PhD, Dominic J. Packer PhD

The Age of Surveillance: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff

Subject: Systemic Oppression>> Covering the roots of systemic oppression to how it has evolved in present day. These books challenge our complacency in feeding discriminatory systems.

Caste the Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

Built From the Fire The Epic Story of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, America’s Black Wall Street by Victor Luckerson

American Whitelash A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress by Wesley Lowery

Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing American’s Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzl

The Source of Self-Regard by Toni Morrison

Subject: Activism>>Voices for Change- These books offer direction for “being the change you wish to see in the world.”

Viral Justice How We Grow the World We Want by Ruha Benjamin

Braving the Wilderness The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brene Brown

Radical Inclusion Seven Steps to Help You Create a More Just Workplace, Home and World by David Moinina Sengeh

The Trauma of Caste A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Abolition by Thenmohi Soundararajan

Lies about Black People How to Combat Racist Stereotypes and Why it Matters by Omekongo Dibinga

Subject: Human Rights/Voices >> Stories of injustice, resilience, and revolution — these books bring visibility to women, indigenous people, people with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, immigrants, and people with low socio-economic status. 

A Chronicle of Language, Faith and Migration by Alejandra Olivia

Searching for Savanna The Murder of One Native American Woman and the Violence Against the Many by Mona Gable

A Woman’s Life is a Human Life: My Mother, Our Neighbor and the Journey from Reproductive Rights to Reproductive Justice by Felicia Kornbluh

You or Someone You Love Reflections from an Abortion Doula by Hannah Matthews

How the Other Half Eats by Priya Fielding-Singh 

On Our Best Behavior The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good by Elise Loehnen

Young and Restless the Girls Who Sparked America’s Revolution by Mattie Kahn

Soil The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille T. Dungy

Hijab Butch Blues A Memoir by Lamya H