Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi. A noted historian and assistant professor of African American history at the University of Florida, Kendi casts a critical eye on the long and lingering history of racism in America. He does so with an effective narrative device, telling the story of racist ideas and their impact on American history through the lives of five major figures. From Puritan minister Cotton Mather to Thomas Jefferson, from abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to  scholar W. E. B. Du Bois and anti-prison activist Angela Davis, Kendi shows how and why some of our leading pro-slavery and pro-civil rights thinkers have challenged or helped cement racist ideas in America. As Kendi provocatively posits, racist thinking did not arise from ignorance or hatred. Rather it was was created in an effort to defend deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and to rationalize the nation's racial inequities in everything from wealth to health. What emerges is what the Washington Post described as an "engrossing and relentless intellectual history of prejudice in America. The greatest service Kendi [provides] is the ruthless prosecution of American ideas about race for their tensions, contradictions, and unintended consequences."

The book also  won the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction and was praised

thusly: "Stamped from the Beginning turns our ideas of the term 'racism' upside-down. Ibram X. Kendi writes as a thoughtful cultural historian, aware that he is challenging deeply held, often progressive assumptions. Using a masterful voyage through the history of U.S. political rhetoric, beginning with Cotton Mather and ending with hip-hop, he argues that even the most fervent anti-racists have been infected with that resilient virus. With his learning, he dares us to find a cure." 

 

Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America by John Lewis. Longtime activist and Georgia Congressman Lewis draws from his experience as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement to offer guidance to anyone seeking to live virtuously and transform the world. His wisdom, poignant recollectio ns, and powerful ideas could inspire a new generation to usher in a freer, more peaceful society. Civil rights actions in the 1960s gave rise to the protest culture we know today, and the experiences of leaders like Congressman Lewis seem more relevant than ever.

With the paperback featuring an updated introduction from the author that addresses the current administration, Across That Bridge offers a strong moral voice in an era of great uncertainty. This quote from the book gives you an idea of

Lewis's message: "The most important lesson I have learned in the fifty years I have spent working toward the building of a better world is that the true work of social transformation starts within. It begins inside your own heart and mind, because the battleground of human transformation is really, more than any other thing, the struggle within the human consciousness to believe and accept what is true. Thus to truly revolutionize our society, we must first revolutionize ourselves. We must be the change we seek if we are to effectively demand transformation from others."