For those of you who’ve heard the call to deepen your commitment to justice this year, here are some of inSpirit’s recommended books to help you answer that call with confidence! Educating ourselves through diverse sources and supporting the work of seasoned movement leaders and authors are some of the ways we live out our Unitarian Universalist values.
Our UU values also uphold that our own learning, growth, and search for truth are sharpened through deepened relationships in our communities. Please consider using these books in your book circles, as discussion starters, and gifts for those you mentor in our faith and beyond.
Movement Building & Resources
- Third Reconstruction: How a Moral Movement is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear
- This is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt is Shaping the Twenty-First Century
- Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing can Change Everything
- Reclaiming Prophetic Witness: Liberal Religion in the Public Square
- Household Workers Unite: The Untold Story of African American Women Who Built a Movement
- Be the Change: Poems Prayers and Meditations for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers
Criminal Justice
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Economic Justice
- “They’re Bankrupting Us!” And Other Myths about Unions
- Billionaire’s Ball: Gluttony and Hubris in an Age of Epic Inequality
- Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good
- Expand Social Security Now!: How to Ensure Americans Get the Retirement They Deserve
Immigration
- Detained and Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire
- Dreamers: An Immigrant Generation’s Fight for the American Dream
- Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants
- They Take Our Jobs! And Other Myths about Immigration
- Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal
Interfaith Lens
- Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of A Generation
- Children of the Same God: The Historical Relationship Between Unitarianism, Judaism, and Islam
- Interfaith Leadership: A Primer
LGBTQIA
- Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out
- Family Pride: What LGBT Families Should Know about Navigating Home, School, and Safety in Their Neighborhoods
- GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens
- Struggling in Good Faith” LQBTQI Inclusion from 13 American Religious Perspectives
Racial Justice
- A Time to Break the Silence: The Essential Works of Martin Luther King, Jr. for Students
- Between the World and Me
- Ferguson and Faith: Sparking Leadership and Awakening Community
- From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
- Towards the “Other America”: Anti-Racist Racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter
- They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement
- All the Real Indians Died Off: And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans
- An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
A Time to Break SilenceThe Essential Works of Martin Luther King, Jr., for Students
The first collection of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essential writings for high school students and young people—with eighteen selections including “I Have a Dream,” “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?”
All the Real Indians Died OffAnd 20 Other Myths About Native Americans
Unpacks the twenty-one most common myths and misconceptions about Native Americans
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of The United States10th-Anniversary Edition
This American Book Award–winning title about Native American struggle and resistance radically reframes more than 400 years of US history. Free discussion guide available
