Reading is - and always has been political. Here's some books that have changed the way we think about policy and politics.
One of the most devastating books on housing and economic exploitation.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
A collection of “essays, fictions, poems, plays, and more” on reproductive freedom. Get read to rage and cry and laugh.
I Know What's Best for You
Unlearn what you probably learned in history class, and hear about the history of the US from “America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers.”
A People's History of the United States
Foundational book on economic and wealth inequality in the U.S.
The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives
You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll hear from an incredibly diverse group of talented writers.
The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America
A timely read on school privatization efforts.
Cutting School: The Segrenomics of American Education
Don't go grocery shopping without reading this book.
The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket
THE defining history of the civil rights movement - it's a 3-part series that is worth the time and investment.
Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63
A must-read on the hidden stories of undocumented Americans. Heartbreaking and real.
The Undocumented Americans
A critical exploration of America's original sin: slavery.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
How and why an economic view of efficiency rules king in U.S. policy.
Thinking Like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in U.S. Public Policy
Explores the sociology of poverty in America. (Warning: Denser, academic book, but critically important)
The Undeserving Poor
One of the defining pieces of literature of the 20th century on race, racism, identity, rage, and humanity.
Invisible Man
Feminine anger can be turned into political power and change.
Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger
Helpful exploration of the historical and social context that led up to busing and the public's response to it.
Why Busing Failed: Race, Media, and the National Resistance to School Desegregation
The book will change the way you think about the education system.
Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism
