Akron Public Library

"For Ta-Nehisi Coates, history has always been personal. At every stage of his life, he's sought in his explorations of history answers to the mysteries that surrounded him -- most urgently, why he, and other black people he knew, seemed to live in fear. What were they afraid of? In Tremble for My Country, Coates takes readers along on his journey through America's history of race and its contemporary resonances through a series of awakenings -- moments...

A biography of journalist Mark Whitaker, the son of an interracial couple married in 1950s America.

"Told from alternating perspectives, an evocative and riveting novel about the lifelong bond between two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event-a powerful and poignant exploration of race in America today and its devastating impact on ordinary lives. Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions....

When two senseless killings hit close to home, columnist Clarence Abernathy seeks revenge for the murders -- and, ultimately, answers to his own struggles regarding race and faith. After being dragged into the world of inner-city gangs and racial conflict, Clarence is encouraged by fellow columnist Jake Woods (from the bestseller Deadline) to forge an unlikely partnership with a redneck homicide detective. Soon the two find themselves facing the powers...

In Baltimore, black newspaperman Darryl Billups hunts for the Confederate flag killer, so called because he leaves decals of the flag at the scene of his murders. His victims are black professionals.

Michele Norris, host of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," set out, through original reporting, to write a book about "the hidden conversation on race" that is going on in this country. But along the way she unearthed painful family secrets. Extraordinary for Norris's candor in examining her own complex racial legacy, "The Grace of Silence" is also informed by hundreds of interviews with ordinary Americans and wise observations about...

"In the 1800s in Dunmore, a Canadian town settled by people fleeing enslavement in the American south, young Lensinda Martin works for a crusading Black journalist. One night, a neighboring farmer summons Lensinda after a slave hunter is shot dead on his land by an old woman who recently arrived via the Underground Railroad. When the old woman refuses to flee before the authorities arrive, the farmer urges Lensinda to gather testimony from her before...

"Caleb Moon is a young idealistic journalist reporting on everyday racial injustices, but when he is arrested at a police brutality protest he meets a racist white cop. The interactions indicate the lengths to which racism is systemic and pushes Caleb's approach to injustice from theory into practice. Convinced that journalism isn't how he will change the world Caleb chooses to help a black candidate run for mayor against the white incumbent. The...

Here is the riveting dual biography of two little-known but extraordinary men in Civil War history George E. Stephens and James Henry Gooding. These Union soldiers not only served in the Massachusetts 54th Infantry, the well-known black regiment, but were also war correspondents who published eyewitness reports of the battlefields. Their dispatches told the truth of their lives at camp, their intense training, and the dangers and tragedies on the...