These books have been trust-worthy companions while I worked on SOUTHERN WHITE AMNESIA. Each volume offers tools for anyone reckoning with past and present. I hope you find them as insightful as I have.
by bell hooks
Hooks offers a transformative framework for moving beyond guilt toward genuine repair, providing readers with practical tools for turning uncomfortable family discoveries into healing action rather than paralyzing shame.
by Octavia Butler
Butler's groundbreaking novel uses time travel to viscerally demonstrate how slavery's violence echoes across generations, helping readers understand that historical trauma isn't distant past but living reality that shapes contemporary relationships and power structures.
by Peter Kolchin
Kolchin delivers essential historical context that helps readers understand how individual family stories connect to larger economic systems
by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Glaude uses Baldwin's insights to help readers figure out how to love America while honestly facing its ugly history, offering clear ways to think through patriotism that doesn't require pretending everything was fine.
by Cole Arthur Riley
Riley offers spiritual practices specifically designed for processing racial trauma, giving readers contemplative tools for staying emotionally present during difficult conversations about inherited harm and systemic violence.
by Isabel Wilkerson
Wilkerson explains America's racial hierarchy as a caste system, giving readers a clear framework for understanding how inherited advantages and disadvantages get passed down through families, making abstract concepts like "privilege" concrete and visible.
by Wendell Berry
Berry reveals how racial violence creates psychological damage within perpetrator families across generations, helping readers understand their own family dynamics and mental health patterns through a rarely examined lens.
by Ibram X. Kendi
Kendi provides clear definitions and actionable strategies that move readers beyond good intentions toward measurable impact, offering concrete ways to assess whether daily choices actually advance racial justice.
by Ruth King
King teaches inner work practices that prevent racial justice efforts from burning out or becoming performative, showing readers how to sustain long-term commitment while managing their own emotional triggers and defensiveness.
by James Baldwin
Baldwin develops readers' capacity to see through comforting cultural narratives, providing the analytical tools necessary for recognizing how white supremacy operates through seemingly innocent traditions and family stories.
