I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
Poignant memoir of girlhood in rural America during the 1930s.
Topic: Racial Justice
Format: fiction | Pages: 300

The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel
Margaret Atwood
Prophetic tale of a future where women lack fundamental civil and human rights.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: fiction | Pages: 320

Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
Novel about censorship and a future where books are illegal, but no one seems to care.
Topic: Free Speech
Format: fiction | Pages: 200

Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
Chronicles the travels of a young, nameless black man, as he encounters racial discrimination.
Topic: Racial Justice
Format: fiction | Pages: 600

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Robert A. Heinlein
Novel about the revolt of Loonies against the Earth authorities.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: fiction | Pages: 380

Catch 22
Joseph Heller
Commentary on the dangers of unquestioning obedience to authority. A literary testament to the importance of civil liberties.
Topic: Free Speech
Format: fiction | Pages: 460

If He Hollers Let Him Go
Chester Himes
Chronicles four days in the life of fictional character, Bob Jones, a black man who lives life in constant fear and is plagued by the effects of a racist society.
Topic: Racial Justice
Format: fiction | Pages: 220

Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
Tale of a futuristic world where the trends of contemporary culture are taken to alarming extremes.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: fiction | Pages: 300

The Cider House Rules
John Irving
Orphan Homer Wells becomes the protege of Dr. Wilbur Larch, the orphanage's physician and director. Trained by Dr. Larch in medicine, Wells assists him in his work, but draws the line at performing abortions.
Topic: Reproductive Freedom
Format: fiction | Pages: 600

To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
Classic American tale of race, justice and growing up poor as told through the eyes of a young girl.
Topic: Racial Justice
Format: fiction | Pages: 280

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
Audre Lorde
Chronicles the life of an African-American lesbian in mid-20th century Harlem.
Topic: LGBTQ Rights
Format: fiction | Pages: 250

1984
George Orwell
Classic novel that tells the tale of an all-encompassing government that enforces perfect conformity among every citizen.
Topic: Free Speech; Surveillance
Format: fiction | Pages: 350

Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Classic novel depicting the cruelty of slavery.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: fiction | Pages: 500

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
Tale of two runaways—a white boy and a black man—and their journey down the Mississippi River.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: fiction | Pages: 300

The Color Purple
Alice Walker
Feminist novel about an abused black woman's struggle for empowerment.
Topic: Women's Rights; Racial Justice
Format: fiction | Pages: 300

Orlando
Virginia Woolf
Tells the comic story of Orlando who enters the book as an Elizabethan nobleman and exits three centuries later as a liberated woman of the 1920s.
Topic: LGBTQ Rights
Format: fiction | Pages: 330

Black Boy
Richard Wright
Vivid description of black boyhood in the rural South.
Topic: Racial Justice
Format: fiction | Pages: 450

Sticks and Stones
Peter Kuper
Allegorical graphic novel about the vanities of imperialism.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: graphic novel | Pages: 120

Get Your War On
David Rees
Graphic novel with absurd and hilarious commentary on what the author considers a profound waste of time, money and human energy. Critiques the government’s "War on Terrorism."
Topic: Free Speech
Format: graphic novel | Pages: 100

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
Marjane Satrapi
Graphic novel that tells the story of a young girl's life during the Islamic Revolution.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: graphic novel | Pages: 200

9-11: Artists Respond Volume 1
9-11: September 11, 2001 (Stories to Remember, Volume 2)
Various Artists
Responses of various graphic illustrators and artists to 9/11; volumes 1 and 2.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: graphic novel | Pages: 200

Live from Death Row
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Collection of death-row inmate Abu-Jamal's writings, which document the atrocities of prison life.
Topic: Death Penalty
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 220

In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action
Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy
Nineteen fascinating accounts of real-life controversies that emphasize the human side of the Bill of Rights.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 440

Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High
Melba Beals
First-hand account of desegregation following the landmark Brown v. Board of Education verdict.
Topic: Racial Justice
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 340

Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us
Kate Bornstein
A sincere and often comic look at transgender life, gender identity and sexual desire.
Topic: LGBTQ Rights
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 270

Why the Religious Right is Wrong about Separation of Church and State
Rob Boston
Chronicle of the development of the church-state relations from the Middle Ages to the modern era. Shows how separating church and state actually protects religion.
Topic: Religious Liberty
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 280

Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership and Hip-Hop Culture
Yvonne Bynoe
Argues that the tradition of effective activism of the civil rights era might be revived by tapping into the enormous energies of the hip hop explosion.
Topic: Racial Justice, Political Activism
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 200

Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement
Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall
Examines the FBI's harassment, surveillance, and disruption of black and Native American groups in the 1960s and 1970s.
Topic: Racial Justice; Privacy
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 500

The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of an American Icon
Ronald Collins and David Skover
Chronicles the obscenity cases that comedian and cultural maverick Lenny Bruce had leveled against him.
Topic: Free Speech
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 550

Terrorism & The Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National Security
James Dempsey and David Cole
Argues that the Anti-Terrorism Act and the USA Patriot Act are ineffective and undermine civil rights. Concludes that there can be no trade-off between national security and civil liberties.
Topic: Patriot Act
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 240

Stonewall
Martin Duberman
Chronicles the Stonewall riots, a watershed event in gay and lesbian rights that occurred during the summer of 1969.
Topic: LGBTQ Rights
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 350

Defending Everybody: A History of the ACLU
Diane Garey
The story of the ACLU from its earliest battles through its landmark cases.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 300

Six Days or Forever? Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes
Ray Ginger
An in-depth account of the famous "Scopes Monkey Trial" of 1925, which struck down a law forbidding the teaching of evolution in state-funded schools.
Topic: Religious Liberty
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 250

Not in Front of the Children: "Indecency," Censorship and the Innocence of Youth
Marjorie Heins
Argues that the age-old idea of protecting children from corrupting influences has reached dangerous proportions in the United States.
Topic: Censorship; Youth Rights
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 400

The War on the Bill of Rights and the Gathering Resistance
Nat Hentoff
Argues that the federal government has used the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 as a pretext for curtailing civil liberties.
Topic: Patriot Act
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 200

The Courage of Their Convictions: Sixteen Americans Who Fought Their Way to the Supreme Court
Peter Irons
The story of 16 individuals who took their battles for civil liberties to the Supreme Court.
Topic: Supreme Court
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 450

I'd Hate Myself in the Morning: A Memoir
Ring Lardner
Memoir that chronicles life on the House Un-American Activities Committee's Hollywood blacklist.
Topic: Privacy; Free Speech
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 220

The Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship and the Production Code
Leonard Leff and Jerold Simmons
Engaging look at the "Production Code," which was adopted in 1934 by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association that dictated what was morally acceptable in American movies.
Topic: Censorship
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 380

Driving While Black: What To Do If You Are a Victim of Racial Profiling
Kenneth Meeks
Well-researched and disturbing book about racial profiling that details origins and consequences of this problem and suggests some solutions.
Topic: Racial Justice
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 280

Defending My Enemy: American Nazis, the Skokie Case, and the Risks of Freedom
Aryeh Neier
Former ACLU executive director's autobiographical account of the famous Skokie Case.
Topic: Free Speech
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 200

The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America from Slave Passes to the War on Terror
Christian Parenti
Explores the historical and sociological roots of government surveillance -- from slave owners' attempts to control slaves to modern police efforts to stop crime.
Topic: Privacy
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 275

The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School
Neil Postman
Claims that our current educational system teaches students to worship consumerism. Argues for more humanistic education in schools.
Topic: Youth/Student Rights
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 220

The Death of the Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions
Hellen Prejean
Passionate indictment of the American criminal justice system.
Topic: Death Penalty
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 330

Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member
Sanyika Shakur
Autobiography describing Shakur's experiences of gang-life, racial profiling and police brutality. Indictment of the American criminal justice system.
Topic: Criminal Justice; Racial Justice
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 300

And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic
Randy Shilts
Exhaustive account of the early years of the AIDS crisis that outlines the medical, social and political forces behind the epidemic's origins and spread.
Topic: LGBTQ Rights; Disability Rights
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 650

In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU
Samuel Walker
Comprehensive history of the ACLU by an active member who had complete access to ACLU's archives.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 500

No More Prisons
William Upski Wimsatt
Self-proclaimed "cool rich kid" William Upski Wimsatt takes on the American penal system and its emphasis on punishment at the expense of hope and rehabilitation.
Topic: Criminal Justice
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 165

Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor
Paul Wright and Tara Herivel (Eds)
Prisoners, social critics and investigative journalists document the current state of American prisoners’ living conditions.
Topic: Criminal Justice
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 330

People's History of the United States: 1492-Present
Howard Zinn
American history as told from the point of view of women, factory workers, African Americans, American Indians and immigrant laborers.
Topic: Civil Liberties
Format: nonfiction | Pages: 750

Howl and Other Poems
Alan Ginsberg
Classic poem of the Beat Generation that overcame multiple censorship trails to become one of the most widely read political poems in American history.
Topic: Free Speech
Format: poetry | Pages: 50