This documentary completely opened my eyes and changed my perspective on race, poverty, and my country (the US). It was harrowing, but I feel it was necessary for me to witness it and I am better for having done so. I’m looking for books that will open my eyes to the lived experiences of others in a similar way.
by Joyfulmovement86
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Barbara Ehrenreich‘s Nickled and Dimed is a great book on people’s lives in poverty, even though it’s a bit out of date now.
Colson Whitehead’s book The Nickel Boys is fiction but it’s one of the most extraordinary and emotionally devastating books I’ve ever read. I understand there’s a movie out too, but I can’t imagine anything could come close to the book.
The Butterfly Cage by Rachel Zemach
The Sing Sing Files had that effect on me. It was beyond infuriating and, while I already thought that our justice system was deeply flawed, the fact that so many innocent people could be in prison and simply no one in power would care has left a profound impression on me.
*The Fire Next Time*, James Baldwin; *Between the World and Me*, Ta-Nehisi Coates (inspired by *TFNT*
The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist
An Innocent Man
This one isn’t as focused on one or two individuals but The Color of Law will never let you look at neighborhoods or home ownership the same way again.
The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins. It’s a great primer on how messed up U.S. foreign policy is.
The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allan Dulles, and Their Secret World War by Stephen Kinzer.
The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The Vortex: A True Story of History’s Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation by Scott Carney and Jason Mikian. The typhoon that hit Bangladesh created chaos and death that led to Pakistan perpetrating a genocide … and the Nixon administration help! A book as compelling as it is infuriating.