Collection: Staff Picks

Combining trenchant philosophy with lyrical memoir, Afropessimism is an unparalleled account of Blackness. Why does race seem to color almost every feature of our moral and political...

Sharp, lyrical poems celebrating the Black vernacular—its influence on pop culture, its necessity for familial survival, its rite in storytelling and in creating the safety...

No one wants what no one wants. And how do we even know what we want? How do we know we’re ready to take it?Edie...

  Widely heralded as a “masterful” (Washington Post) and “essential” (Slate) history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law offers “the most forceful...

It took me a lifetime to have the courage and the clarity to write my memoir. I want to tell the story of the moments...

The story of Christine Jorgensen, America’s first prominent transsexual, famously narrated trans embodiment in the postwar era. Her celebrity, however, has obscured other mid-century trans...

One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent—but all are underrepresented in media and...

A new manifesto for cyberfeminism. The divide between the digital and the real world no longer exists: we are connected all the time. How do...

In Heavy, Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about growing up a hard-headed Black son to a complicated and brilliant Black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. From his...

  Combat Racism, Change the World & Become a Good Ancestor — Updated and expanded from the original workbook (downloaded by nearly 100,000 people), this critical...

  Renowned visionary and theorist bell hooks began her exploration of the meaning of love in American culture with the critically acclaimed All About Love: New...

The visionary author’s masterpiece pulls us—along with her Black female hero—through time to face the horrors of slavery and explore the impacts of racism, sexism,...

"This is a narrative that describes the urgency that compels me and millions more to push for a different American story than the one being...

From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different...

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and...

  A revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms Run a Google search for...

A rising New York Times reporter tells the compelling story of The Compton Cowboys, a group of African-American men and women who defy stereotypes and continue the...

Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert, Tim Ferriss, and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey...

Edited with text by Stuart Comer. Text by Naomi Beckwith, Mark H.C. Bessire, C. Carr, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Adrienne Edwards, Malik Gaines, Danielle A. Jackson,...

Irby is forty, and increasingly uncomfortable in her own skin despite what Inspirational Instagram Infographics have promised her. She has left her job as a...

Whether Samantha Irby is talking about how her difficult childhood has led to a problem in making “adult” budgets; explaining why she should be the...

  One of America’s most historic political trials is undoubtedly that of Angela Davis. Opening with a letter from James Baldwin to Davis, and including...