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Recommendations based on I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemalaby Rigoberta Menchú
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Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
Exploration of the hybrid identity of Chicana women, navigating between two cultures.
Anzaldua, a Chicana native of Texas, explores in prose and poetry the murky, precarious existence of those living on the frontier between cultures and languages. Writing in a lyrical mixture of ... (Goodreads)
A People's History of the United States
by Howard Zinn
An examination of American history from a perspective of marginalized people.
In the book, Zinn presented a different side of history from the more traditional "fundamental nationalist glorification of country". Zinn portrays a side of American history that can largely be seen ... (Goodreads)
Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent
by Eduardo Galeano
Historical account of the exploitation of Latin America by foreign powers.
Open Veins of Latin America has a foreword written by Chilean writer Isabel Allende , followed by a preface by Galeano titled “In Defense of the World” and a series of acknowledgments. The book has ... (Wikipedia)
My Beloved World
by Sonia Sotomayor
Autobiographical account of a Latina's path to the Supreme Court, overcoming personal and systemic obstacles.
The first Latinx (Puerto Rican) and third woman appointed to the US Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now, with a candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting ... (Goodreads)
Assata: An Autobiography
by Assata Shakur
A powerful memoir of her struggles and triumphs in the face of racism and oppression.
On May 2, 1973, Black Panther Assata Shakur (aka JoAnne Chesimard) lay in a hospital, close to death, handcuffed to her bed, while local, state, and federal police attempted to question her about the ... (Goodreads)
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
by Paulo Freire
Analysis of the educational system, advocating a pedagogy of liberation.
First published in Portuguese in 1968, Pedagogy of the Oppressed was translated and published in English in 1970. The methodology of the late Paulo Freire has helped to empower countless impoverished ... (Goodreads)
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan
Exploration of the modern food chain, examining the impact of food choices on our health and the environment.
What should we have for dinner? The question has confronted us since man discovered fire, but according to Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Botany of Desire , how we answer it today, at ... (Goodreads)
Enrique's Journey
by Sonia Nazario
A young man's perilous search for his mother in the US, crossing the Mexican border.
A true story from award-winning journalist Sonia Nazario recounting the odyssey of a Honduran boy who braves hardship and peril to reach his mother in the United States. In this astonishing true ... (Goodreads)
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
by Janet Mock
A memoir of a transgender woman's journey of self-discovery and her experiences of the world.
In 2011, Marie Claire magazine published a profile of Janet Mock in which she stepped forward for the first time as a trans woman. Those 2300 words were life-altering for the People.com editor, ... (Goodreads)
The Devil's Highway: A True Story
by Luis Alberto Urrea
A harrowing account of a group of Mexican migrants crossing the US-Mexico border, and their struggle for survival.
"The single most compelling, lucid, and lyrical contemporary account of the absurdity of U.S. border policy." (The Atlantic), The author of Across the Wire offers brilliant investigative reporting of ... (Goodreads)
Naked
by David Sedaris
Collection of humorous essays exploring the absurdities of everyday life.
Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked , Sedaris turns the mania for memoir on its proverbial ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, ... (Goodreads)
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
by Eric Schlosser
An exploration of the industrial food system and its effects on U.S. society.
Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list ... (Goodreads)
From Beirut to Jerusalem
by Thomas L. Friedman
A journalist's account of the Middle East, from the civil war in Lebanon to the first Palestinian intifada.
This extraordinary bestseller is still the most incisive, thought-provoking book ever written about the Middle East. Thomas L. Friedman, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for international ... (Goodreads)
The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey
by Ernesto Che Guevara
A journey of exploration and discovery of South America, with a focus on its people and places.
The young Che Guevara’s lively and highly entertaining travel diary, now a popular movie and a New York Times bestseller. This new, expanded edition features exclusive, unpublished photos taken by ... (Goodreads)
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity
by Judith Butler
A philosophical exploration of gender identity, challenging traditional notions of binary gender and advocating for fluidity and diversity.
Since its publication in 1990, Gender Trouble has become one of the key works of contemporary feminist theory, and an essential work for anyone interested in the study of gender, queer theory, or the ... (Goodreads)
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
by Edward S. Herman
Critique of mass media and its role in shaping public opinion.
In this pathbreaking work, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense ... (Goodreads)
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
by Richard Rothstein
Examination of the US government's role in creating and enforcing racial segregation in housing.
In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, explodes the myth that America’s cities came to be racially divided through ... (Goodreads)
Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson
Expose of the environmental damage caused by the widespread use of chemical pesticides.
Silent Spring is an environmental science book. The book documents the adverse environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading ... (Goodreads)
The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism
by Naoki Higashida
Insightful and moving exploration of life with autism from the perspective of a young boy.
Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism, it is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, ... (Goodreads)
A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age
by William Manchester
A vivid portrayal of the medieval world, its beliefs, and practices, and the emergence of the Renaissance.
From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose, and with the grace ... (Goodreads)
No Logo
by Naomi Klein
A critique of the negative impact of corporate branding and globalization on society and culture.
With a new Afterword to the 2002 edition, No Logo employs journalistic savvy and personal testament to detail the insidious practices and far-reaching effects of corporate marketing—and the powerful ... (Goodreads)
Zeitoun
by Dave Eggers
A man's struggle to survive and reunite with his family amidst the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Abdulrahman Zeitoun grew up in Syria. After a few years of apprenticeship in the Syrian port city of Jableh , Zeitoun spent twenty years working at sea as a muscleman, engineer and fisherman. During ... (Wikipedia)
Bad Feminist
by Roxane Gay
A collection of essays exploring feminism, race, and gender, and their intersections.
Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be, cool, but it is pink—all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read, Vogue, and I’m not doing it ... (Goodreads)
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
by Tracy Kidder
A story of one man's journey to fight poverty, illness, and injustice around the world.
At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, ... (Goodreads)
Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo
by Plato
Classic dialogues exploring the nature of morality, justice, knowledge, and death.
The second edition of Five Dialogues presents G. M. A. Grube's distinguished translations, as revised by John Cooper for Plato, Complete Works (Hacket, 1997). Cooper has also contributed a number of ... (Goodreads)
The Power of Myth
by Joseph Campbell
A conversation between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers on the role of mythology in human life, exploring universal themes and archetypes.
The Power Of Myth launched an extraordinary resurgence of interest in Joseph Campbell and his work. A preeminent scholar, writer, and teacher, he has had a profound influence on millions of people. ... (Goodreads)
Nickel and Dimed: On
by Barbara Ehrenreich
A journalist's exploration of poverty in the U.S., exposing the struggles of low-wage workers.
Millions of Americans work full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which ... (Goodreads)
Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays
by David Sedaris
A collection of humorous and satirical stories and essays that explore the absurdities of modern life.
In David Sedaris’s world, no one is safe and no cow is sacred. A manic cross between Mark Leyner, Fran Lebowitz, and the National Enquirer , Sedaris’s collection of essays is a rollicking tour ... (Goodreads)
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
by Bryan Stevenson
A powerful true story of justice and redemption, exposing the flaws of America's criminal justice system.
In 1989, idealistic young Harvard law graduate Bryan Stevenson travels to Alabama hoping to help fight for poor people who cannot afford proper legal representation. Teaming with Eva Ansley, he ... (Wikipedia)
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
by Carol S. Dweck
Examining the impact of mindset on achievement, and strategies to cultivate a growth mindset for success.
A newer edition of this book can be found, here., After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the ... (Goodreads)
