I consider myself a voracious reader; I am currently on book #38 of my 50-book yearly reading goal. One pattern I’ve noticed as I’ve tracked my reading progress in 2019 is that the titles I am consistently choosing to read center around pressing social issues in America. One of the reasons that I love reading so much is that I have an insatiable need to learn, and have found that reading books of any genre seems to quiet this yearning. For me, reading allows me to understand different perspectives and educate myself on matters that extend beyond my limited world view. If you also consider yourself a fellow book nerd and are a glutton for social activism, this list is for you.

The Transgender Community

The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater

This is a young adult novel that, when I finished reading, I immediately picked up the phone and called all my teacher friends to consider incorporating into their curriculum. It is written in journalistic style and relays the events of November 4, 2013. On this day, Sasha Fleischman, a transgender female high school student, was set on fire by Richard Thomas, a 16-year-old black high school student, while on her commute back home to Berkeley. This novel is extremely informative on the transgender community as well as race and incarceration in America. It begins as a story of hate and ends as a story of forgiveness that is capable of changing hearts and minds.

 

Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation by Kate Bornstein

To be fair, I was assigned to read this text during my Gender Communications course at university, but it reads like anything but a textbook. If anything this book serves as a collection of essays told from the perspective of Kate Bornstein, a high profile transgender woman, who you may recognize from Caitlyn Jenner’s E show, “I Am Cait.” This is the second edition of the book, and has been further revised to match the modern understanding of the transgender community. This book has helped me to understand the complexities of being a transgender identifying person and answered questions that I would not have felt comfortable asking in any other context.

 

Feminism

A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum

 

As a loud and proud feminist, I’ve read countless feminist text. For me, Etaf Rum’s novel was a breath of fresh air on this topic. It approached feminism from an angle I haven’t encountered before: the treatment of females in Arab cultures. This story follows three generations of Palestinian-American women, from leaving Palestine to finding identity in a country that will never truly feel like home. It illuminates how patterns of oppression can subsist until we teach girls to find their voice. This book deals with themes of domestic violence, immigration, and the treatment of Muslims in America. Also, if this any incentive to read this book, Sarah Jessica Parker helped publish it!

 

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I may be a little late jumping on this bandwagon, but if you haven’t already read We Should All Be Feminists, you definitely should. I would be so bold as to say that this is the requisite feminist text to read in the modern, #MeToo era. This is a quick read. The book itself is tiny- the perfect purse book- coming in at a whopping 64 pages because it was adapted from the TedX talk Adichie gave of the same name. If you want a little sample before reading, listen to Beyonce’s song ***Flawless, the speaking interlude is Adichie during her TedX talk!

 

Race In America

The Color Of Law: A Forgotten History Of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

Holy smokes was this book eye-opening! Richard Rothstein is a leading expert on housing policy in America and exposed the history of racially charged de facto and de jure segregation from the emancipation of slaves to modern-day that continues to shape the demographics of our communities. This book touches on themes of lasting racial prejudices, income inequality, and the corruption of private institutions, banks, and real estate agencies. Rothstein’s main argument charges local, state, and federal governments with passing laws that perpetuate discrimination within all American communities. I have a tradition of watching a movie after finishing a book and usually it is either the film adaptation of the book or a film that covers a related topic. The film I watched after reading this book was “The Last Black Man In San Francisco” and it complemented the book perfectly.

 

Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Firstly, if Toni Morrison calls it required reading, you listen to the master of the written word herself and read it. I always enjoy reading about race in America from people who come here from Africa- in this case, Coates is from Nigeria- and describe what it is like to be lumped into the racial prejudices of the African American experience. It is the same reason that Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie made such a lasting impact for me. This powerful novel centers around one question: What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? In the end, this novel becomes one where we can begin to understand our racially charged history and somehow find a way to change the narrative to free ourselves from hate and burden.

 

Income Inequality

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America by Barbara Ehrenreich

This book was originally published in 1998, but was then re-published in 2011 to highlight how little has changed for the average working-class American. Barbara Ehrenreich, a journalist, goes undercover as a typical working woman, assuming the roles of a house cleaner, waitress, and retail employee to document her experience and make the point that despite working 10-hour workdays each day, this is not enough to survive financially in America. As a waitress working for minimum wage and trying to support herself in the most expensive city in the United States, I can certainly relate. For me, the stance and solutions to combat income inequality is one of the main points I am following in the current and ongoing Democratic presidential debates.

 

Family Separations At The Border

Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran

If there is one issue that has taken precedence in the current socio-political conversation in America, it is the matter of family separations that are still happening at our country’s border. In the last year alone, 900 migrant children have been separated from their parents to be detained in unlivable conditions within detention facilities and abused by ICE workers. Lucky Boy is the novel to read if you want to understand how truly traumatizing these policies are for families affected. The story is told from two perspectives: Solimar, a teenage girl, pregnant with child, who flees from Santa Clara Popocalco to become an undocumented resident of Berkeley, and Kavya, an Indian-American woman struggling with infertility. I won’t give any spoilers, but this story truly puts into words the devastating effects of anti-immigration policies enacted in the Trump administration.

 

Apocalyptic Novel With Eerie Parallels To American Society

Milkman by Anna Burns

While this novel does not take place in America, its society mirrors ours if we are to continue with the radical policing of identities. The story follows Middle Sister, who stands out for the wrong reasons, and describes the repercussions of being different in a culture stuck in its ways. This novel has many themes including feminism, the separation of church and state, homosexuality, and gun violence. What Anna Burns alludes to is subtle, but subversive. Burns is being hailed the most consequential voice of our generation after this novel, her first, won the Man Booker Prize last year.

 

The Opioid Epidemic

Cherry by Nico Walker

What makes this book so interesting is that its author wrote it from federal prison, which gives the book a slightly autobiographical feel. Cherry follows an unnamed narrator who struggles with opioid addiction after returning from Iraq, where he served in the Army. The grappling effects of addiction cause the narrator to rob banks to get the funds to support his cravings. Themes in this book obviously center around addiction and mental health that illuminate the dark heart of the opium crisis occurring in America.

 

Are there any topics or titles that you’ve read recently that we’ve missed, let us know in the comments! Happy reading everyone!

By: Rachel Ladeby