General History

The National Book Award winning history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society.   Some Americans insist that we're living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America...

From the author of Queen Sugar--now a critically acclaimed series on OWN directed by Ava Duvernay--comes a beautiful exploration and celebration of black farming in America. In this impressive anthology, Natalie Baszile brings together essays, poems,...

"Stony the Road presents a bracing alternative to Trump-era white nationalism. . . . In our current politics we recognize African-American history--the spot under our country's rug where the terrorism and injustices of white supremacy are habitually...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NEW YORK TIMES READERS PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY - OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK - "An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far...

An essential, surprising journey through the history, rituals, and landscapes of the American South—and a revelatory argument for why you must understand the South in order to understand America We all think we know the South. Even those who have...

Shortly after a dismembered torso was discovered by a pond outside Philadelphia in 1887, investigators homed in on two suspects: Hannah Mary Tabbs, a married, working-class, black woman, and George Wilson, a former neighbor whom Tabbs implicated after...

The #1 New York Times bestseller-WINNER OF ANISFIELD-WOLF AWARD FOR NONFICTION-WINNER BLACK CAUCUS OF AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION BEST NONFICTION BOOK-WINNER NAACP IMAGE AWARD BEST NONFICTION BOOK-WINNER NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING AND...

Gary Younge explains why "The Speech" maintains its powerful social relevance by sharing the dramatic story behind it.MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DELIVERED his powerful "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963. Fifty years later, the speech endures as a...

There have been countless books, articles, and televised reports in recent years about the almost mythic "white working class," a tide of commentary that has obscured the labor, and even the very existence, of entire groups of working people, including...

National Book Critics Circle 2021 Biography Finalist 53rd NAACP Image Award Nominee: Outstanding Literary Work - Biography/Autobiography "[A] riveting and timely exploration of Hamer's life. . . . Brilliantly constructed to be both forward and backward...

Let residents tell you what it's been like to live in D.C.'s most gentrified neighborhood. When Gretchen Wharton came to Shaw in 1946, the houses were full of families that looked like hers: lower-income, African American, two parents with kids. The...

In lecture/essay format, Dr. Ben identifies and corrects myths about the inferiority and primitiveness of the indigenous African peoples and their descendants. Order Africa Mother of Western Civilization here.

From the mind of brilliant historian Robin Kelley comes the first full biography of legendary jazz musician Thelonious Monk, including full access to the family's archives, dozens of interviews, and an afterword for Monk's 2017 centennial. Thelonious...

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR - FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION - A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK - NATIONAL BESTSELLER - Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not...

An urgent new chapter in the history of the Catholic Church and America's reckoning with its founding narrative"Outstanding . . . an incredible project of research, deciphering, and storytelling, and a devastating indictment not only of Georgetown but...