Collection: Politics

She grew up in a world where women were supposed to be quiet. But Malala Yousafzai refused to be silent. Discover Malala's story through this powerful narrative telling, and come to see how one brave girl named Malala changed the world.

"War is a Racket" is marine general, Smedley Butler's classic treatise on why wars are conducted, who profits from them, and who pays the price. Few people are as qualified as General Butler to advance the argument encapsulated in his book's sensational title. When "War is a Racket" was first published in 1935, Butler was the most decorated American soldier of his time. He had lead several successful military operations in the Caribbean and in Central America, as well as in Europe during the First World War. Despite his success and his heroic status, however, Butler came away from these experiences with a deeply troubled view of both the purpose and the results of warfare.

The sixtieth anniversary edition of Frantz Fanon's landmark text, now with a new introduction by Cornel West

First published in 1961, and reissued in this sixtieth anniversary edition with a powerful new introduction by Cornel West, Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth is a masterfuland timeless interrogation of race, colonialism, psychological trauma, and revolutionary struggle, and a continuing influence on movements from Black Lives Matter to decolonization. A landmark text for revolutionaries and activists, The Wretched of the Earth is an eternal touchstone for civil rights, anti-colonialism, psychiatric studies, and Black consciousness movements around the world. Alongside Cornel West's introduction, the book features critical essays by Jean-Paul Sartre and Homi K. Bhabha. This sixtieth anniversary edition of Fanon's most famous text stands proudly alongside such pillars of anti-colonialism and anti-racism as Edward Said's Orientalism and The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

From the organizers of the Palestine Festival of Literature, this anthology of essays connects Palestinian resistance with global freedom struggles against settler colonialism and calls on us to think more concretely about the practice of solidarity.

The Palestine Festival of Literature, or PalFest, was created in 2008 as "a cultural initiative committed to the creation of language and ideas for combating colonialism in the 21st century." The annual festival brings authors from around the world to convene with readers, artists, writers, and activists in cities across Palestine for cross-pollination of radical art, ideas, and literature.

These efforts resulted in Beyond Frontiers, an anthology thoughtfully arranged and introduced by PalFest cocurator Mahdi Sabbagh. Contributors include writers and scholars such as Tareq Baconi and Dina Omar, architect Mabel O. Wilson, and filmmaker Omar Robert Hamilton, among others, each bringing their diverse intellectual and geographic backgrounds to the forefront. Each piece grapples with the questions: How do we confront the need to take inevitable and often difficult political stances? How do we make sense of the destruction, uprooting, and pain that we witness? And given our seemingly impossible reality, how is mutuality constructed?

"Those who build walls are their own prisoners. I am going to fulfill my proper function in the social organism. I'm going to go unbuild walls."
--Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

Drawing from over twenty years of activism on local and national levels, this striking book offers an organizer's perspective on the intersections of immigrant rights, racial justice, and prison abolition.

In the wake of post-9/11 xenophobia, Obama's record-level deportations, Trump's immigration policies, and the 2020 uprisings for racial justice, the US remains entrenched in a circular discourse regarding migrant justice. As organizer Silky Shah argues in Unbuild Walls, we must move beyond building nicer cages or advocating for comprehensive immigration reform. Our only hope for creating a liberated society for all, she insists, is abolition.

Unbuild Walls dives into US immigration policy and its relationship to mass incarceration, from the last forty years up to the present, showing how the prison-industrial complex and immigration enforcement are intertwined systems of repression. Incorporating historical and legal analyses, Shah's personal experience as an organizer, as well as stories of people, campaigns, organizations, and localities that have resisted detention and deportation, Shah assesses the movement's strategies, challenges, successes, and shortcomings. Featuring a foreword by Amna A. Akbar, Unbuild Walls is an expansive and radical intervention, bridging the gaps between movements for immigrant rights, racial justice, and prison abolition.

Mass incarceration is a lived, sensory experience.

The
most eye-popping statistics alone cannot relate the enormity of its
psychological and societal impacts. This concise, illustrated primer is a
collaboration between one of mass incarceration's sharpest opponents,
James Kilgore, and information artist Vic Liu. It brings to life the
histories and means of daily survival of the marginalized people
ensnared in this racist, ableist system of class-based oppression. The
book elegantly weaves together the most insightful activist scholarship
with vivid testimonials by incarcerated people as they fight back
against oppression and imagine freedom.

Those targeted for incarceration do not simply submit to a monochromatic existence behind bars. The Warehouse showcases
the abolition futures being crafted from the inside as people resist
through direct action and artistic expression. This book is designed to
inform, enrage, and ultimately inspire the same radical hope propelling
incarcerated underminers of the carceral state.

Vote! A Guide for Young Adults provides instructions for registering and voting in the United States for ages 18-21. Why you should participate in our democracy and how to do it.

Anti-racism work cannot be reduced to a single checklist of "dos" and "don'ts."

As society shifts its perspective on true allyship--moving from being "not racist" to "anti-racist"--White allies are being called upon to actively work toward changing the status quo. However, the vast majority of resources on this topic emphasize educating allies about anti-racism without teaching them how to actually do anti-racism work. This leaves well-meaning allies feeling stuck, frustrated, and afraid of getting it wrong.

Beyond Fragility fills this undeniable gap by providing you with a concrete, step-by-step approach to effective anti-racism allyship. Filled with case examples, guided reflections, and skill-building exercises, this book provides you with the skills to:

- Understand and avoid common mishaps in anti-racist work, such as misunderstanding what racism is, not knowing how to recognize racism, or not having a clear anti-racist identity
- Cope with intense emotions like guilt, fear, hopelessness, and anger that may arise when discussing racism and privilege
- Navigate complex interpersonal interactions, whether it's validating the experiences of BIPOC peers, recovering from a racist misstep, or speaking out against racist comments

Anti-racist allyship is not an innate essence--nor is it something you were born knowing how to do. But with the tools in this book, you can learn new skills that allow you to engage in impactful and sustainable allyship in every space you occupy.

This authoritative "go-to" publication aims to educate women on how to express their rights within Islam. Perfect for enabling activists to integrate an egalitarian Islamic belief system into their movements. The most effective means of improving Muslim women's lives is connecting them to their deeply held beliefs that affirm human dignity and gender equality at the core of the Islamic faith. But Muslim women lack this information that enlightens and vouches for their sacred rights, and they have no accessible tools that encourage faith-based activism consistent with the Islamic faith. To protect them from being misrepresented by or outside their communities, there is a need to provide pre-packaged, easy-to-understand literacy tools to women so they can lead lives of choice, dignity, and opportunity. 30 Rights of Muslim Women aims to fill this gap.

The gripping history of Taiwan, from the flood myths of indigenous legend to its Asian Tiger economic miracle--and the renewed threat of invasion by China.

Once dismissed by the Kangxi Emperor as nothing but a 'ball of mud', Taiwan has a modern GDP larger than that of Sweden, in a land area smaller than Indiana. It is the last surviving enclave of the Republic of China, a lost colony of Japan, and claimed by Beijing as a rogue province--merely the latest chapters in its long history as a refuge for pirates, rebels, settlers, and outcasts.

Jonathan Clements examines the unique conditions of Taiwan's archaeology and indigenous history, and its days as a Dutch and Spanish trading post. He delves into its periods as an independent kingdom, Chinese province, and short-lived republic, and the transformations wrought by 50 years as part of the Japanese Empire. He examines the traumatic effects of its role as a lifeboat in 1949 for two million refugees from Communism, and the conflicts emerging after the suspension of four decades of martial law, as its people debate issues of self-determination, independence, and home rule.

A radical new intervention into the housing debate in the UK, and what we can do about it

Britain has become a nation of renters and landlords and building more housing is not the solution. In his radical new interpretation of the housing crisis lawyer Nick Bano proposes that it is rent not house prices that is at the core of the problem. Despite economic boom and bust, why has the cost of housing continued to skyrocket since the 1970s? Bano argues that rents have also continued to rise - supported by housing benefit payments and weakening housing laws on evictions. The state has colluded with the market as social housing provision has been replaced by payments, spiralling ever higher.

Against Landlords shows that a permanent crisis is not a happenstance of global economics or political incompetence, but has been engineered on purpose. Such a crisis has resulted in the fire at Grenfell and widespread precarity for renters. Bano also shows that this is not just a London problem but can be seen across the country, and that it is inherently racist in nature. It instils anxiety and inequality in order to maintain ever increasingly profits.

Bano's radical diagnosis show why the solutions proscribed by diverse experts have gone wrong, and what we should do about. It is firstly a problem of the law, and this demands immediate reform to questions of property and land values. Then, policy: the laws concerning renting and landlordism. Finally, it is question of supply: where to build and who for.

Follow the remarkable journey of a trailblazing American leader, Dr. Antonia Novello, the first woman and the first Hispanic Surgeon General of the United States
Dr. Antonia Novello is a vanguard in the United States and Puerto Rico, whose enduring commitment to service has left an indelible mark on the world of public health. With a distinguished career spanning more than four decades, including serving as the US Surgeon General and the New York State Commissioner of Health during 9/11, her story highlights an unwavering dedication to improving the well-being of individuals and communities. 
Dr. Novello's story is one of challenges faced and overcome, of resilience and perseverance, and of shattering glass ceilings and opening doors for future generations of leaders. With honesty and openness, she shares her early battles with childhood illness and her desire to overcome stereotypes, while also chronicling her meteoric rise through various roles in the field of health care, leading to her service as the nation's top medical officer. From her struggles to her celebrations to her tireless advocacy for the health of young people, each chapter offers a glimpse into the resilience and wisdom that have shaped her life, unveiling the profound lessons she has gathered along the way.

In Duty Calls, readers will learn about:
- Dr. Novello's early life and her struggles with congenital megacolon
- Her medical school and internship experiences
- How she became the first female/first Hispanic Surgeon General of the United States
- Dr. Novello's work as the New York State Commissioner of Health during 9/11
- Her efforts to vaccinate and provide health care resources to her home in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria
- Wisdom and insights Dr. Novello gained through her life experiences, as well as her advice for the next generation (and everyone else!)

Within the decade, 400 million acres of American farmland--nearly half of all farmland in America--will become available as an older generation of farmers retire. The farmers stepping up to steward this land will be faced with issues like rising land costs, soil erosion, dietary health epidemics, food inequality, and more. A Call to Farms is an investigative travelogue of these new American agrarians who are modeling what a better, more sustainable future could look like.

In this optimistic narrative, journalist Jennifer Grayson introduces readers to farmers across America turning to practices both ancestral and cutting-edge that preserve the environment and make healthy, fresh food accessible to all. From a 1-acre "market garden" in Oregon to a Japanese American no-till farm in Connecticut, to a master gardener combatting food apartheid in South Carolina, these narratives are a must-read for those interested in American foodways and reimagining our agricultural system.

The first oral biography of John F. Kennedy Jr. is an extraordinarily intimate, comprehensive look at the real man behind the myth. Sharing never-before-told stories and insights, his closest friends, confidantes, lovers, classmates, teachers, and colleagues paint a vivid portrait of one of the most beloved figures of the 20th century, revealing how the boy who saluted became the man America came to know and love who still captures public imagination twenty-five years after his tragic death.

Born into the spotlight, John F. Kennedy Jr. lived a short but remarkable life filled with expectation, ambition, family pressures, love, and tragedy. JFK Jr. dives deep into his complicated psyche and explores the what-ifs, illuminating both the cultural and political moment he inhabited and the way this son of a president, so full of promise and possibility, embodied America's most cherished hopes.

BITTERSWEET FREEDOM - A Magnificent Drama of human suffering, courage, man's mortality, and selfless love. Gripping, funny, sad, galvanizing. Difficult to put down. A lesson inspiring each of us to appreciate every moment of life, and to love one another as if there were no tomorrow. A timeless and stirring work. (Amazon Review - Karolyet Greytonson)

BITTERSWEET FREEDOM's sweeping allegory peels back seven-decades in the lives of the author's family: from the shores of Europe to the shores of America, telling the mesmerizing Romantic Tale of her parents, two young, star-crossed lovers caught up in the turbulence of World War II and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

BITTERSWEET FREEDOM is a Majestic Story (both a memoir and biography) embedded with accurate historical accounts, entwined about the horrific atrocities suffered by her parents (as children) during World War II in Hungary, describing the unimaginable terrors inflicted upon them, and, the Hungarian people during the 1956 Revolution.

The author's father, Jozsef, a 1956 Hungarian Freedom Fighter, is caught up in surreal events beyond his control as he assumes the position of one of the major leaders of that revolt, rallying and urging his raggedly armed fellow countrymen onward as they fight in the bloody streets of Budapest against Soviet Oppression, taking Evil lives to save Valiant lives. Thousands of poorly armed Freedom Fighters gave their brave lives for Freedom's Sake as they pushed doggedly on against their superiorly armed oppressors to extinguish the Tyranny of Soviet rule from their beloved country of Hungary.

Written as a "story", not using traditional memoir format. the author has composed a shocking account, of how, with a death-sentence pronounced upon him by the Soviet Government, her father, her mother and the author (age two), make a harrowing, death-defying escape, fleeing at a moment's notice on foot through treacherous enemy terrain, to free themselves from the perils of tortuous persecution during the bleak, mournful days of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, seeking a small, narrow bridge shrouded in the mists of a swampy marshland. The boards of those rickety planks would carry the family into a vast, unknown void called "Freedom. The Bridge at Andau, Austria, the infamous bridge that would carry thousands of Hungarians to Freedom, for they would rather have died in their quest for liberty than to live forever-bound in the Iron Chains of Soviet Domination.

BITTERSWEET FREEDOM is a True Story of refugees seeking acceptance and refuge in America - A story echoing the headlines of today about immigration, survival, strong family ties, love, and sentiment. However, even in America - the family faces countless formidable enemies - Hateful ethnic persecution, destitution, and communal conflict.

BITTERSWEET FREEDOM is a True Story that proves that Love can last a lifetime, that Love can last even beyond a lifetime, that Love can last for eternity!

Now, more than ever, as the shadow of today's turbulent world events of Immigration, cultural inequity, national rebellion, and family discourse cloud our lives, the True Saga of BITTERSWEET FREEDOM will teach the divine life lesson of holding onto hope in the face of devastating adversity, and, to believe in the promise of the omnipresent, magnificent power of Love Everlasting.

Stacey Abrams is a lawyer, entrepreneur, and voting rights activist. After working in government, she founded Fair Fight Action to improve voting access. Learn about Abrams's early life and what she plans to do next.