100 Social Justice audio books available from your public library

Hillary Carey
5 min readMay 12, 2021

I keep recommending that friends download and use their public library card to listen to audio book for free (!) on the Libby app. So I thought I’d share a list of the books I’ve been inspired by. Because it can be hard to figure out which books are actually available in audio format.

Because Libby works as a public library, you often will have to wait to access an audio book. So I tend to go in every few weeks and add a bunch of books to my “Holds.” So, that’s what I recommend you do with this list — pick a bunch that sound interesting and get on the wait list for them. Enjoy!

This is an assortment of books — fiction and nonfiction — that generally mirror my research work: anti-racism and visions of the future. I can’t guarantee that you’ll like them.

But they are free, so you can just give it a listen and send it back!

New American Stories by Aleksandar Hemon, Jhumpa Lahiri, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Alexie Sherman

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

I loved this feminist, non-binary, punk take on sci-fi

Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism by Anne Case, Angus Deaton

It’s About Damn Time by Arlan Hamilton, Rachel L. Nelson

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

All We Can Save by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Katharine K. Wilkinson (eds.)

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang

A More Perfect Reunion by Calvin Baker

Zora Neale Hurston by Carla Kaplan, Ph.D.

Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong

A People’s Future of the United States by Charlie Jane Anders, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Charles Yu

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Good Trouble by Christopher Noxon

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Race Matters by Cornel West

Radicalized by Cory Doctorow

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

Ms. Philyaw is a Pittsburgher and brilliant

Begin Again by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.

It is powerful to study James Bladwin through Dr. Glaude’s mind

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho

Having and Being Had by Eula Biss

Afropessimism by Frank B. Wilderson III

Cleanness by Garth Greenwell

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee

Five Minds for the Future by Howard Gardner

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby

Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

Navigate Your Stars by Jesmyn Ward

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward

A wide range of essays and authors speak about personal experiences with racism

Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward

Godsend by John Wray

His Truth Is Marching On by Jon Meacham

The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

An immigration story we need to hear told with creativity and critique

Nowhere Boy by Katherine Marsh

A charming Young Adult novel about a refugee teenager in Brussels

Race for Profit by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Mill Town by Kerri Arsenault

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

A Raisin in the Sun (Theaterical performance) by Lorraine Hansberry

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones

Inclusive Conversations: Fostering Equity, Empathy, and Belonging Across Differences by Mary-Frances Winters

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

Long Time Coming by Michael Eric Dyson

Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson

What Truth Sounds Like by Michael Eric Dyson

Next: The Future Just Happened by Michael Lewis

Becoming by Michelle Obama

How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

The Fire Is upon Us by Nicholas Buccola

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

The Path Made Clear by Oprah Winfrey

Where We Come From by Oscar Cásares

When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Cullors, asha bandele

This book was less about #BLM and more of a reflective deep dive into Ms. Khan-Cullors life experiences

My Broken Language by Quiara Alegría Hudes

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright

The Marathon Don’t Stop by Rob Kenner

The 99% Invisible City by Roman Mars, Kurt Kohlstedt

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Hunger by Roxane Gay

What Can a Body Do? by Sara Hendren

Heart Minded by Sarah Blondin

The View from Flyover Country by Sarah Kendzior

Yellow Bird by Sierra Crane Murdoch

The Body Is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor

Silence is My Mother Tongue by Sulaiman Addonia

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

You Are Your Best Thing by Tarana Burke, Brené Brown (eds.)

Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

There There by Tommy Orange

Read this book, and then please talk to me about the ending.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

God Help the Child by Toni Morrison

Home by Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz

My hero.I enjoyed reading about a group of white folks who were totally enraged about the inhumanity of slavery

The Unreal and the Real, Vol 1 by Ursula K. Le Guin

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick by Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

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Hillary Carey

Design + AntiRacism + Long-term Visions | PhD in #TransitionDesign @CarnegieMellonDesign | Coaching & Workshops @JustVisions.Co