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Books About Race in America: The Essential Reading List

These are the essential books about race in America — works that tell the full story of racism, resistance, and resilience in American life. From Octavia Butler's time-traveling masterpiece Kindred to Michelle Alexander's landmark investigation of mass incarceration, from Ta-Nehisi Coates' letter to his son to Isabel Wilkerson's framework for understanding caste, these books belong on every shelf.