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'The Dead Are Arising' Sheds Light On Malcolm X — And Those That Influenced Him

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, by Les Payne and Tamara Payne Liveright hide caption

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Liveright

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'The Dead Are Arising' Sheds Light On Malcolm X — And Those That Influenced Him

October 28, 2020 • This isn't only a biography of Malcolm X; Les and Tamara Payne contextualize race in America prior to Malcolm's birth, and take a nuanced, unflinching look at his life, his death — and its aftermath.

Real-World Experience Gives 'The Nightworkers' Its Punch

MCD

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Real-World Experience Gives 'The Nightworkers' Its Punch

October 21, 2020 • Brian Selfon spent years working in the criminal justice field, and he brings that knowledge to bear in his debut, about a family of money launderers whose lives are upended when a bag goes missing.

'The Socrates Express' Takes Readers On A Ride Through Applied Philosophy

The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers, by Eric Weiner Simon & Schuster hide caption

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Simon & Schuster

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'The Socrates Express' Takes Readers On A Ride Through Applied Philosophy

August 27, 2020 • Eric Weiner's book is an invitation to experience philosophy, as he explores his relationship to the works of well-known philosophers and shows us how their ideas can help us improve our lives.

Erin Brockovich Says 'Superman's Not Coming' To Save Our Water Supply

Consumer advocate and activist Erin Brockovich poses during a photo shoot in Adelaide, South Australia on Oct. 21, 2016. Newspix/Getty Images hide caption

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Newspix/Getty Images

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Erin Brockovich Says 'Superman's Not Coming' To Save Our Water Supply

August 26, 2020 • The environmental activist and consumer advocate takes a brutally honest look at how mismanagement, chemical spills, mishandling of toxic waste, and even fake studies have damaged U.S. water systems.

'Luster' Shines With Sharp Wit And Dark Humor

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Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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'Luster' Shines With Sharp Wit And Dark Humor

August 23, 2020 • Raven Leilani's new novel will make you cringe for all the right reasons. It's an intergenerational, interracial love story with a heart of noir and gallows humor, so honest it will make you squirm.

A Sister Explores Her Sibling's Mysterious Death In 'The Book Of Atlantis Black'

The Book of Atlantis Black: The Search for a Sister Gone Missing, by Betsy Bonner Tin House Books hide caption

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Tin House Books

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A Sister Explores Her Sibling's Mysterious Death In 'The Book Of Atlantis Black'

August 5, 2020 • Betsy Bonner presents her sister with love, but also with honesty; she is the storyteller, but Atlantis Black is the story, the mystery, the victim, sometimes the perpetrator and always the question.

This 'Wolf' Will Bite You — And You'll Like It

Farrar, Straus & Giroux

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This 'Wolf' Will Bite You — And You'll Like It

August 3, 2020 • Laura Van Den Berg's new collection is full of uncanny, exquisite, and painful stories about death, about loss and isolation and falling for the wrong person. Her writing will get under your skin.

True Crime Stories And The Obsession With Them Form 'Unspeakable Acts'

Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit, and Obsession, edited by Sarah Weinman Ecco hide caption

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Ecco

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True Crime Stories And The Obsession With Them Form 'Unspeakable Acts'

July 30, 2020 • The search for answers in this nonfiction anthology edited by Sarah Weinman is one of many cohesive elements that make the collection land among the best true crime books of the year.

Take A Dangerous Ride Through 'Blacktop Wasteland'

Flatiron Books

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Take A Dangerous Ride Through 'Blacktop Wasteland'

July 19, 2020 • S.A. Cosby's latest is being marketed as a crime novel — but that crime is the least important element in this wrenching story about race, family, and the temptation to take that one last job.

Grief And Guilt Spawn Horrors In 'The Only Good Indians'

Saga/Gallery Press

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Grief And Guilt Spawn Horrors In 'The Only Good Indians'

July 16, 2020 • Stephen Graham Jones's new novel follows the aftermath of an elk hunt gone wrong and one man who's haunted by it — literally. It's a story of revenge and sorrow, but also identity and tradition.

If Surprise Makes A Great Novel, 'Antkind' Is A Great Novel

Random House

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If Surprise Makes A Great Novel, 'Antkind' Is A Great Novel

July 8, 2020 • Charlie Kaufman's doorstopper new novel could only have been written by Charlie Kaufman — which may seem vague, but we promise it fits the unapologetic, overstuffed Antkind perfectly.

'You Exist Too Much' Exists In A Constant State Of Discontent

Catapult Press

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'You Exist Too Much' Exists In A Constant State Of Discontent

June 11, 2020 • Zaina Arafat's powerful new novel follows a queer Palestinian American woman from adolescence to adulthood, a journey dogged by constant longings for home, for identity, for belonging.

'I Don't Want To Die Poor' Maintains Sense Of Humor Amid Stories Of Struggle

I Don't Want to Die Poor: Essays, by Michael Arceneaxu Atria Books hide caption

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Atria Books

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'I Don't Want To Die Poor' Maintains Sense Of Humor Amid Stories Of Struggle

April 9, 2020 • Making Michael Arceneaux's book required reading in high schools would help a lot of young people think twice about the promise that going to college is the only path to upward social mobility.

In 'Hurricane Season,' Words Swirl Wild And Dark

Hurricane Season, by Fernanda Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes. New Directions hide caption

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New Directions

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In 'Hurricane Season,' Words Swirl Wild And Dark

April 2, 2020 • Fernanda Melchor's poetic, foul-mouthed new novel sits on the border between crime fiction and horror: A woman known as the Witch has been murdered, and her neighbors want to know who did it and why/

'American Poison' Aims To Show How Race Is At The Root Of U.S. Problems

American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise, by Eduardo Porter Knopf hide caption

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Knopf

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'American Poison' Aims To Show How Race Is At The Root Of U.S. Problems

March 23, 2020 • Journalist Eduardo Porter has written a book that cuts to the root of racism, tracing it from slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation — and bringing it to today — with unblinking honesty and facts.