Social Justice

New York Public Library Best of 2022 A gripping, twisting account of a small town set on fire by hatred, xenophobia, and ecological disaster—a story that weaves together corporate malfeasance, a battle over shrinking natural resources, a turning point in the modern white supremacist movement...

In this powerful exposé, Dr. Arley Ballenger takes listeners deep into the heart of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, a town where corruption runs deep and those who stand up against the powerful forces are silenced. From suspicious deaths and whistleblower murders to the systemic abuse of power by local officials, this book reveals the dark truths behind the town’s most shocking scandals. Through gripping real-life accounts, investigative journalism, and firsthand testimony, Dr. Ballenger uncovers the hidden corruption that has plagued Bartlesville for decades.

The grandson of a slave, Dr. Ossian Sweet moved his family to an all-white Detroit neighborhood in 1925. When his neighbors attempted to drive him out, Sweet defended himself, resulting in the death of a white man and a murder trial for Sweet. There followed one of the most important (and shockingly unknown) cases in Civil Rights history. Also caught up in the intense courtroom drama were legal giant Clarence Darrow and the newly formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

All of the humans in schools—kids and adults—deserve joy. Yet, our experiences in schools, and the experiences of our students, are often far from joyful. Humans Who Teach invites listeners to explore the complicated humanity of those who teach, with a focus on how we have been socialized to accept the status quo, our very real fears in disrupting the status quo, and how we can rely on our human capacity to love to engage in teaching for social justice even in the presence of fear.

Part feminist manifesto, part call to arms, Feminism for Women is a radical, new exploration of feminism. A frontline activist in the campaign to end male violence for the last four decades, Julie Bindel is a leading voice in the feminist movement. In her fight for women's rights, she has been up against innumerable barricades, fought the enemy, hailed great successes, witnessed pivotal moments and created groundbreaking feminist theory and practice.

In Justice in America: A Broken Social Contract, Jeffery Jones takes listeners on a thought-provoking journey through the complex tapestry of American justice, offering a unique blend of historical insight and sociological perspective. This book is not just a call for understanding. It's an invitation to explore the multifaceted nature of justice in the United States without sacrificing your own point of view.

Historian Orville Vernon Burton and civil rights lawyer Armand Derfner shine a powerful light on the Court's race record - a legacy at times uplifting, but more often distressing and sometimes disgraceful. For nearly a century, the Court ensured that the 19th-century Reconstruction Amendments would not truly free and enfranchise African Americans. And the 21st century has seen a steady erosion of commitments to enforcing hard-won rights.

A Just Future addresses the precarious future of American higher education and diversity and inclusion initiatives along with it. From a global pandemic to a national reckoning with anti-Blackness, the 2020 historical conjuncture brutally revealed the impact of structural inequalities on historically marginalized communities and galvanized college students, diversity officers, and educators on a scale not seen since the 1960s. In so doing, it exposed the unfinished business of the civil rights era and the limits of diversity and inclusion reforms.

This two-part report (Unclassified Report and Classified Appendix) is presented in fulfillment of these requirements and sets forth our principal findings and recommendations concerning the matters that were the subject of our review.

A renowned judge wonders: What would criminal justice look like if we put respect at the center? The Black and Latina daughter of a working-class family, Victoria Pratt learned to treat everyone with dignity, no matter their background. When she became Newark Municipal Court’s chief judge, she...

Beware Euphoria uncovers the roots of America's moral obsession with drug regulation, offering a lively and fascinating history of the nation's racialized fear of intoxication. Challenging the idea that early anti-drug laws in the United States arose from racial animus, George Fisher instead shows in textured detail how United States drug laws were driven by a deep-seated cultural taboo against euphoria and a preoccupation with white moral integrity.

History, race, and politics converged in the 1960s in ways that indelibly changed America. In Justice Rising, a landmark reconsideration of Robert Kennedy’s life and legacy, Patricia Sullivan draws on government files, personal papers, and oral interviews to reveal how he grasped the moment to emerge as a transformational leader.

The huge prison buildup of the past four decades has few defenders, yet reforms to reduce the numbers of those incarcerated have been remarkably modest. Meanwhile, an ever-widening carceral state has sprouted in the shadows, extending its reach far beyond the prison gate. It sunders families and communities and reworks conceptions of democracy, rights, and citizenship - posing a formidable political and social challenge. In Caught, Marie Gottschalk examines why the carceral state remains so tenacious in the United States.

The story of a disillusioned generation that set out to reclaim its dignity and take on corporate America. In recent years, young college grads have faced an alarming reality: crushing debt, unemployment, and jobs below their qualifications. They are frustrated that the time and money they...

What really happens on the front lines of change? For Kathryn, a former ESPN columnist and professional cyclist, advocating for gender equality wasn't even on her radar in 2006. She was on a journalism assignment, trying to get to the Beijing Summer Olympics. By 2016, everything changed. Global petitions, documentary filmmaking, pressure groups, secret meetings, bullying managers, brain injuries, devastating depression, healing victories… the decade-long span of one woman's foray into activism was rife with difficulties. But also a journey of hope, passion, courage and triumph.

AI and other high-tech tools embed and reinforce America’s history of prejudice and exclusion — even when they are used with the best intentions. Patrick K. Lin’s Machine See, Machine Do: How Technology Mirrors Bias in Our Criminal Justice System takes a deep and thorough look into the use of technology in the criminal justice system, and investigates the instances of coded bias present at every level.

A riveting exploration of how visual media has shifted the narrative on race and reignited the push towards justice by the author of the “worthy and necessary” (The New York Times) Nobody Marc Lamont Hill and the bestselling author and acclaimed journalist Todd Brewster. With his signature...

A powerful documentary that brings light to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in Nashville, TN and initial modeling of non-violent protest that transformed a nation.

In June 1985, a young Black man named Darryl Hunt was falsely convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a white copyeditor at the local paper. Many in the community believed him innocent and crusaded for his release even as subsequent trials and appeals reinforced his sentence. Finally, in 2003, the tireless efforts of his attorney combined with an award-winning series of articles by Phoebe Zerwick in the Winston-Salem Journal led to the DNA evidence that exonerated Hunt.

Grounded in research and rich with personal narrative, Hidden Healers is a poignant and riveting look inside women's prisons and jails—and what we can do to help.