Contemporary Books on Social Justice

Social justice is the pursuit of fairness in society based on the belief that all people deserve equal opportunities and rights. We curated the following study guide collection (including books for middle-grade and young adult readers) to help readers get the most out of books that cover contemporary issues and topics in social justice.

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Justice, Forgiveness, Perseverance, Conflict, Equality, Truth & Lies, Power & Greed, Politics & Government

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Crime & Law, Social Justice, Race & Racism, Incarceration, Politics & Government

Publication year 2013

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Music

Tags US History, Race & Racism, Business & Economics, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government

Winner of the 2015 Avery O. Craven Prize and the 2015 Sidney Hillman Prize, Edward E. Baptist’s 2014 book, The Half Has Never Been Told, challenges revisionist historical studies and presents slavery as a modern and modernizing institution that was central to the creation of American wealth and power. Drawing on slave narratives and other sources, it examines the development and growth of American slavery and the far-reaching effects it had on the nation from... Read The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism Summary

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Tags Realistic Fiction, Race & Racism, Social Justice, Modern Classic Fiction

The Hate U Give is a young adult novel published in 2017 by the American author Angie Thomas. The book’s protagonist is a 16-year-old Black girl who witnesses a white police officer kill her friend. A New York Times bestseller, The Hate U Give won several awards, including the American Library Association’s William C. Morris Award for best debut novel and the Coretta Scott King Award for the best children’s novel by an African American... Read The Hate U Give Summary

Publication year 2019

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Colonialism, Race, Nation

Tags US History, Gilded Age, Race & Racism, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government

Anthropologist David Treuer’s The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present (2019) revives Indigenous history and centers Indigenous people as subjects, not as mere victims of American avarice. It was a finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction. Treuer is a member of the Ojibwe tribe from the Leech Lake Reservation in north-central Minnesota. He has a doctorate in anthropology, teaches at the University of Southern California, and is the... Read The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Summary

Publication year 2001

Genre Play, Fiction

Tags LGBTQ+, Drama, Social Justice, Education, Education, World History, Dramatic Literature

The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Project in response to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man, in Laramie, Wyoming. Kaufman and the other company members visited Laramie on six occasions and interviewed residents, members of the police force, and Matthew’s friends, in an attempt to understand what happened, and why. They were also interested in the possibility that theatre, more than any other medium... Read The Laramie Project Summary

Publication year 2009

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Power & Greed, Justice, Economics, Community

Tags Philosophy, Poverty, Social Justice, Business & Economics, Sociology, Philosophy, Politics & Government

In 2009, Peter Singer, philosopher and ethicist at Princeton University, published The Life You Can Save, a short treatise on the obligations of affluent persons to alleviate the suffering of those experiencing extreme poverty on a global scale. By this time in his career, Singer had spent several decades on ethical questions related to global poverty. In 1972, he produced a seminal essay in the field, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.” After a much more recent... Read The Life You Can Save Summary

Publication year 2022

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Self Discovery, Friendship, Family, Marriage, Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Conflict, Gratitude

Tags Politics & Government, Social Justice, Self-Improvement, US History, Race & Racism, Diversity, Parenting, Relationships, Inspirational, Biography

Publication year 2005

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Social Class, Justice, Hate & Anger, Music, Good & Evil

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Crime & Law, Social Class, Social Justice, Incarceration

Michael Connelly is a prolific New York Times bestselling author. His legal thriller, The Lincoln Lawyer, won the Shamus Award and Macavity Award in 2006. The book was then successfully adapted to film. Connelly is widely regarded as one of the best American mystery writers. Other works by this author include The Black Echo, The Drop, and The Fifth Witness.This guide refers to the 2005 Hieronymus, Inc. edition.Plot SummaryMichael “Mick” Haller is a criminal defense... Read The Lincoln Lawyer Summary

Publication year 2018

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags Politics & Government, World History, Biography, Social Justice

The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantú is a work of literary nonfiction published in 2018. It was a New York Times best-seller, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Nonfiction Award, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Current Interest, and was named a Top 10 Book of 2018 by NPR and The Washington Post. The book combines memoir with history, anthropology, sociology, and psychology to... Read The Line Becomes a River Summary

Publication year 1952

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags Social Justice, Christian, World History, Biography, Religion & Spirituality

The Long Loneliness, by Dorothy Day, is a memoir about Day’s lifelong relationship with Christianity, and how it pulled her away from communism and socialism toward a movement that combined political theory with Christian love and community. The memoir also tells the story about how her devotion to Catholicism allowed her to meet Peter Maurin, another devoted Catholic and liberal who created part of the theoretical basis of the Catholic Worker Movement.Day begins her book... Read The Long Loneliness Summary

Publication year 1979

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Friendship, Coming of Age, Politics & Government, Justice, Power & Greed, Safety & Danger, Social Class

Tags Horror & Suspense, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Coming of Age, Survival Fiction, Social Justice, Politics & Government, Social Class, Love & Sexuality

Publication year 1994

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes War, Truth & Lies

Tags Military & War, Cold War, Education, Education, Latin American Literature, Journalism, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government

The Massacre at El Mozote, by Mark Danner, which in its first iteration appeared as a series of articles for The New Yorker, is an in-depth investigation into the events of December 1981 in the small town of El Mozote in northern El Salvador, during the country’s long civil war. Danner proceeds to not only bring these events to light, but also to place them in the global context of the Cold War of the... Read The Massacre at El Mozote Summary