| Entertaining Race: Performing Blackness in America by Michael Eric DysonWhat it is: a thought-provoking collection of essays, interviews, and speeches exploring the intersection between Black self-presentation and entertainment in America.
Read it for: revered scholar and public intellectual Michael Eric Dyson's searing insights on the joys and limitations of Black representation.
Further reading: Hanif Abdurraqib's A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance. |
|
| Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution by Woody HoltonWhat it's about: how Black and Indigenous Americans, enslaved people, and women helped shape the outcome of the American Revolution, despite their conflicts with the colonists.
Why you might like it: Award-winning historian Woody Holton's revisionist account reveals the little-known (and often suppressed) moments that spurred rebellion.
For fans of: richly detailed histories that place the American Revolution in a fresh context, like Joseph J. Ellis' The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783. |
|
| Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan JonesWhat it is: a sweeping and accessible 1,000-year history of Europe's Middle Ages that chronicles how both the ruling classes and everyday folk defined the era.
Don't miss: an appraisal of Islam's influence that prioritizes the religion's own history rather than the West's response to it.
Reviewers say: "will satisfy readers of popular history, particularly of the epic variety" (Library Journal). |
|
| Midnight in Cairo: The Divas of Egypt's Roaring '20s by Raphael CormackWelcome to... early 20th-century Ezbekiyya, the thriving nightlife district in Cairo, Egypt.
Starring: seven women -- including singers, actresses, and dancers -- who defied the era's mores to make their mark in a city experiencing unprecedented social and political upheaval.
Why you might like it: This evocative and well-researched chronicle captures all the glitz and glamor of a little-known era in Egypt's history. |
|
| Our Work is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer & Trans Resistance by Syan Rose; foreword by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha What it is: a thought-provoking anthology collecting interviews and firsthand accounts from queer and trans activists.
Art alert: Bold expressionist illustrations complement the volume's candid poetry and prose.
Reviewers say: "A unique, empowering addition to LGBTQ+ literature" (Kirkus Reviews). |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|