American Essays

A personal meditation on, examination of, and tribute to Black single motherhood, unapologetically told through poignant essays and candid interviews, by a celebrated cultural critic. Through her signature candid, humorous, and sometimes biting takes, Lemieux suffers no fools while also...

Khabaar is a food memoir and personal narrative that braids the global journeys of South Asian food through immigration, migration, and indenture. Focusing on chefs, home cooks, and food stall owners, the book questions: What does it mean to belong, and what does belonging in a new place look like in the foods carried over from the old country?

From the National Book Award-winning author of Redeployment and Missionaries, an astonishing fever graph of the effects of twenty years of war in a brutally divided America. When Phil Klay left the Marines a decade ago after serving as an officer in Iraq, he found himself a part of the community...

Even as our world has suffered through successive upheavals, Jesse McCarthy contends, "something was happening in the world of culture: a surging and unprecedented visibility at every level of Black art making". Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul? reckons with this resurgence, arguing for the central role of art and intellectual culture in an age of widening inequality and moral crisis. McCarthy reinvigorates the essay form as a space not only for argument but for experimental writing that mixes and chops the old ways into new ones.

"A rich and lovely book. It brings forward Buddy Bradley with forthright care, wondering with thinkers and artists from Black history how we might best remember his work and understand his achievements."—Thomas F. DeFrantz, author of Dancing Many Drums The groundbreaking story of Buddy...

It is on the knife’s edge between fury and farce that the essays in this exquisite collection balance. Whether confronting the medical profession’s racial biases, considering the complicated legacy of Michael Jackson, paying homage to his writing mentor James Alan McPherson, or attempting to break free of personal and societal stereotypes, Walker elegantly blends personal revelation and cultural critique. The result is a bracing and often humorous examination by one of America’s most acclaimed essayists of what it is to grow, parent, write, and exist as a Black American male.

India’s Five-Year Plans were one of the developing world’s most ambitious experiments. After nearly two centuries of colonial rule, planning the economy was meant to be independent India’s route from poverty to prosperity. Planning Democracy explores how India married liberal democracy to...

For generations, the Black church has been a cornerstone of resilience, community, and empowerment, serving as a sanctuary for African Americans facing systemic oppression. Rooted in liberation theology and social activism, it has played a crucial role in social movements and cultural identity. However, while the Black church continues to be a source of strength, it also mirrors the complexities and contradictions of the communities it serves.

Perfect for fans of Sawkill Girls, Bone Gap, and Dark and Shallow Lies, this suspenseful contemporary mystery delves into a small town’s supernatural, multigenerational curse—and the girl determined to break it. Mercy was named for her mother’s hopes. Mercy, in the hope that the...

A decade after The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns, which Politico called "Moneyball for politics," journalist Sasha Issenberg returns to the cutting edge of political innovation to reveal how campaigns are navigating the era's most pressing challenge: how to win in a world awash in lies. The Lie Detectives is a lively and deep secret history of Democratic politics in the Trump years.

**Winner of the 2025 Zora Award for Nonfiction** “Beautiful… A gift to ourselves and to the world.”— Mikki Kendall, New York Times bestselling author of Hood Feminism From gender adviser to the UN Catherine Joy White comes This Thread of Gold, a lyrical celebration of the history of...

A wide-ranging collection, including two novellas and ten stories exploring complex identities, from the acclaimed author of Corregidora, The Healing, and Palmares “Gayl Jones’s work represents a watershed in American literature. From a literary standpoint, her form is impeccable . . . and...

These empowering essays from leading women writers examine the power of the gendered language that is used to diminish women -- and imagine a more liberated world. Words matter. They wound, they inflate, they define, they demean. They have nuance and power. "Effortless," "Sassy," "Ambitious,"...

In honor of the 75th Anniversary of one of the most critical battles of World War II, the popular primetime Fox News anchor of The Story with Martha MacCallum pays tribute to the heroic men who sacrificed everything at Iwo Jima to defeat the Armed Forces of Emperor Hirohito—among them, a...

21 riveting stories from the battlefield about how India's highest military honour was won The Brave takes you to the hearts and minds of India's bravest soldiers, all of whom won the Param Vir Chakra, India's greatest military honour. With access to the Army, families and comrades-in-arms of...

""A must-read for this era.”—Jake Tapper, CNN Anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent An insightful, urgent, and perennially relevant handbook that lays out in common sense language how the United States Constitution works, and how its protections are eroding before our eyes—essential...

“With dark humor and sharp dialogue, Homes plumbs the depths of everyday American anxieties.” —Time A razor-sharp story collection from the "furiously good" A.M. Homes, author of the forthcoming novel The Unfolding (Zadie Smith, bestselling author of Swing Time). With her signature humor...

A new collection of thirteen mesmerizing stories by American master Joyce Carol Oates, including the 2017 Pushcart Prize–winning “Undocumented Alien”. The diverse stories of Beautiful Days, Joyce Carol Oates explore the most secret, intimate, and unacknowledged interior lives of characters...

The author, journalist, television commentator, and longtime Washington insider reflects on the spiritual quest that has brought deeper meaning to her life—and kept her grounded within the high-powered political world of Washington, D.C.’s elite—her renowned writing career, her celebrity...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin delivers an intimate and personal look at the woman behind the public servant. In her #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Going Rogue—the bestselling nonfiction book of 2009—Palin gave readers a look at her upbringing, her dynamic career, and her candidacy...