We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom by Bettina L. Love
“It is a powerful book and very relatable for non-educators too. Love’s book is part memoir and part manual and illuminates how to cultivate practices of education that seek empowerment. Love argues that we need an abolitionist approach to teaching to allow education to be a practice of empowerment that can have profound impacts on BIPOC kids and communities. For example, Love explains that there is an urgent need to center Black joy in the curriculum. White educators need to be willing to de-center whiteness to allow Black joy to take-up space. I appreciated Love’s insights on how to be in solidarity, and I think that the book’s lessons reach far beyond the classroom.” – Associate Professor Jennifer Suchland
Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum
“I like this one for many reasons: it’s sounding an alarm that goes beyond the threat posed by Trump; in addition to being an analysis of our time, it’s a personal story; and it’s very accessible.” – Professor Cynthia Burack
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval by Saidiya Hartman
Don’t Turn Around: A Novel by Jessica Barry
“This pro-choice thriller is about a clinic volunteer in Texas who takes women on overnight drives to Albuquerque, where spousal consent isn’t required. But when her passenger turns out to be the wife of a prominent conservative politician, the drive turns into a chase.” – Distinguished Professor Linda Mizejewski
Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers by John W. Dean and Bob Altemeyer
“This is for those of us who can’t get too much analysis of authoritarianism. Actually, I haven’t read this yet, but it’s on my list because I’ve been reading psychologist Bob Altemeyer’s brilliant work on authoritarianism for many years. He’s actually written about the dangers posed by authoritarian followers before, in the free ebook The Authoritarians. Don’t read these at night.” – Professor Cynthia Burack
In the Wake: On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe
The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings by James Baldwin and edited by Randall Kenan
“You can revisit James Baldwin’s 1969 statements before a House Select Subcommittee in support of a House bill to establish a national commission on ‘Negro History and Culture.’ The comments are published in Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings under the chapter titled ‘The White Problem.’ Baldwin’s comments reveal that the current urgency about transforming education is connected to the historical and ongoing struggles for equity and empowerment. His comments also relate to the long struggle to finance a museum for African American History and Culture on the national mall — a project more than a century in the making.” – Associate Professor Jennifer Suchland
Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy by Gholdy E. Muhammad