Race

2010 · Rebecca Skloot · 370 pages · Nonfiction

Rebecca Skloot spent more than a decade researching the story of Henrietta Lacks, the woman whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951 and became one of the most important tools in modern medicine. The result is a book that works as science writing, biography, investigative journalism, and a meditation on race and medical ethics in America. It's deeply moving, occasionally infuriating, and important in ways that extend well beyond its subject. The science is accessible, the human story is devastating, and the questions it raises about consent and exploitation have only become more urgent since publication.

2015 · Paul Beatty · 289 pages · Literary Fiction

A fearless, hilarious, frequently shocking satire about a Black farmer who reinstates segregation and slavery in his Los Angeles neighborhood, written with the kind of comic genius that makes you laugh at things you're not sure you should be laughing at.

2020 · Brit Bennett · 343 pages · Literary Fiction

A sweeping multigenerational story about twin sisters who choose radically different lives, exploring race, identity, and belonging with accessible prose and genuine emotional power.

2019 · Kiley Reid · 310 pages · Contemporary Fiction

A sharp, entertaining debut about race, privilege, and performative allyship that lands its social observations with precision even as its plot mechanics occasionally feel contrived.

2017 · Celeste Ng · 338 pages · Contemporary Fiction

Celeste Ng's second novel uses a custody battle in the planned community of Shaker Heights, Ohio, to explore questions about motherhood, privilege, and the illusion of order that wealth provides. The novel is sharp, well-plotted, and populated with characters who feel real enough to argue about. It occasionally leans too hard on its thematic architecture, but the central conflicts are compelling and the writing is controlled and precise.

2021 · Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray · 368 pages · Historical Fiction

A compelling biographical novel about Belle da Costa Greene, the woman who built J.P. Morgan's legendary library while hiding her Black identity in early twentieth-century America. The true story is extraordinary, and the novel tells it with energy and heart, even when the prose doesn't quite match the power of its subject.