1. Uncovered histories, groundbreaking research
This list, curated by the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability (IARA) Project, highlights 15 new titles published at a critical moment.
Four years after the national reckoning with systemic racism following the murder of George Floyd, the U.S. Is seeing pushback against antiracist change. In every state but one, lawmakers have introduced at least one anti-Critical Race Theory measure; 85 anti-DEI bills targeting universities have been proposed; and book bans continue to rise in public libraries and school districts.
This book list shares truth, and truth carries power. IARA Director Professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad and IARA Research Projects Director Erica Jacqueline Licht, MPA, M.Sc. Wrote recently in Learning for Justice: “Reckoning with truths about the United States is hard, but it is the only way to build a true multiracial democracy with leaders equipped to meet the demands of designing new societal structures and systems that promote fairness, equity and justice.”
Keep scrolling to explore our pick of recently published books, including historical deep-dives, lyrical memoirs, a children’s picture book, and a dark fiction anthology.Institutionalized oppression, inside and out
2. Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change by Ben Austen
The United States alone locks up a quarter of the world’s incarcerated population. In his latest book, author, journalist, and former co-host of the podcast Some of My Best Friends Are Ben Austen asks, How might we find a way out of this era of mass imprisonment? Through portraits of two men navigating the carceral system in the U.S., Austen shares an inside perspective on the process of parole — challenging us to consider why and who is punished.
3. Legacy by Dr. Uché Blackstock
Physician, health equity advocate, and Harvard alumnus Dr. Blackstock delivers a searing portrait of the U.S. Healthcare system through this intergenerational memoir. Written as the pandemic converged with a national reckoning on systemic racism, Legacy serves as a call-to-action for tearing down systemic barriers to health equity
Black Tax by Andrew Kahrl
Hidden in the shadows of America’s tax regimes are a series of racist practices. In The Black Tax, Professor Kahrl reveals this shocking history and its consequences on racial equity today. Learn about cases of agricultural land theft, in the panel Gaining Ground: The Fight for Black Land moderated by the author at the Harvard Kennedy School in November 2023.
4. Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
This book responds to a straightforward question: Why does the United States, the richest country, have more poverty than any other advanced democracy? Social scientist and urban ethnographer Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to form an answer. His argument is both compassionate and fierce, articulating how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor.
5. They Came for the Schools by Mike Hixenbaugh
Written by award-winning investigative reporter Mike Hixenbaugh, They Came for the Schools tells the eye-opening story of well-funded conservative backlash against a school board in Southlake, Texas. This book pulls back the curtain on the powerful forces driving the present-day crusade on book bans, curricula, and rights for minority and LGBTQ+ students.Organizing the movement
The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon by Adam Shatz
In The Rebel’s Clinic, Adam Shatz offers a dramatic reconstruction of the life of legendary intellectual activist Frantz Fanon, the pre-eminent critic of colonialism. Fanon’s writings about race, revolution, and the psychology of power continue to shape radical movements across the world and underlie today’s most vital efforts to challenge white supremacy and racial capitalism.
The Bridges Yuri Built: How Yuri Kochiyama Marched Across Movements by Kai Naima Williams & illustrated by Anastasia Magloire Williams
This children’s picture book introduces one of the 20th century’s most notable freedom fighters, Yuri Kochiyama, to the next generation of readers. Published by Kaepernick Publishing, the colorfully illustrated new release brings to life the hardships and victories of Yuri’s activism, from incarceration in a Japanese-American concentration camp during World War II to organizing for better schools in Harlem.
6. Claudia Jones: Visions of a Socialist America by Denise Lynn
Here’s a new biography of activist icon Claudia Jones, who argued that emancipation could not be achieved under capitalist regimes and that it was capitalism that perpetuated oppression. Hers was a message of peace grounded in social justice and liberation through equity–which she believed could only be achieved under socialism. This book offers the story of an activist grounded in the vision that one day we would all be emancipated.
7. We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti-Racist Action by Shannon
This book explores how the Anti-Racist Action movement countered fascist movements in the U.S. Beginning in the 1980’s. Based on extensive interviews with ARA participants, We Go Where They Go tells a fascinating story of grassroots antiracist activism and rabble-rousing.Taking back the narrative
Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation that Saved the Soul of the NBA by Theresa Runstedtler
Black Ball presents a vital narrative history of professional basketball and the Black players who shaped it. In it, scholar Theresa Runstedtler returns to basketball’s ‘Dark Ages,’ when the league became a symbol of a post-civil rights nation. While at the time incoming Black players were blamed for ruining the sport, their skills, style, and savvy ended up laying the foundation for its skyrocketing success. Learn more about antiracism and sports in a recent panel Leveling the Playing Field featuring WNBA Player Nneka Ogwumike at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
This collection of spine-chilling tales explores the uncanny, weird, and supernatural in Indigenous storytelling. The 26 original contributions are as clever as they are sinister, reframing pressing issues facing Indigenous communities through wit and imagination. The anthology un-settles readers in more ways than one.
8. The Rediscovery of America by Ned Blackhawk
In this impressive history text, Te-Moak Professor Ned Blackhawk covers five centuries on Turtle Island (North America). By synthesizing Native and non-Native histories together, he reveals new truths in the U.S. History, including how European colonization in the 1600’s was not a guaranteed success, Native nations helped shape England’s crisis of empire, and 20th century reservation activists shaped American law and policy.
Skinfolk by Matt Guterl
Skinfolk is a poignant memoir of growing up in a mixed-race family in 1970’s New Jersey. Written in stunning prose, the book narrates a family saga in which the American conception of race is pushed to its limits.
Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation by Marcus Anthony Hunter
Inventor of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, Marcus Anthony Hunter is one of America’s foremost voices on reparations for the descendants of enslaved Black Americans. Published in a time of intense debate over the issue, this book presents a worthwhile account of petitions to redress the lasting and collateral consequences of slavery.
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
Tommy Orange’s latest novel explores generational trauma surrounding the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado in 1864. An exceptionally powerful book takes the form of a modern epic, following multiple generations as they continue to imagine a future free from institutional violence.Coming soon
For anyone who makes it through this stack before the end of summer, here are a handful of titles slated to come out in 2024:
9. Rigid Approach To Teaching Phonics Is ‘joyless’ And Is Failing Children
Experts have released robust research to show that phonics should be taught hand-in-hand with reading and writing to encourage true literacy and a love of reading, not through narrow synthetic phonics.
There is widespread disagreement globally across academic and educational spheres about the best way to teach children to learn to read and write. Despite a growing international trend towards a narrow approach to synthetic phonics, experts suggest there is a ‘better way’ to teach reading and writing.
In England, the system is among the most prescriptive in the world with ‘synthetic phonics’ being the method required by government. Yet in England, in 2023 the national tests at the end of primary education showed that 27% of children did not meet the standard in reading and 29% did not meet the standard for writing.
Latest research, including a new paper published today and featuring in upcoming book The Balancing Act, shows that the evidence does not support the efficacy of this approach – and experts are calling for an overhaul of the system to bring ‘joy’ back into reading.
“We know that being literate not only sets the foundation for better academic and socio-economic outcomes, but also that reading can support personal, social, and emotional development, enabling better mental health and greater capacity for empathy and critical thinking – we must stop letting children down,” authors and education experts Dominic Wyse and Charlotte Hacking explain.
10. Synthetic phonics
Schools in England are required by the national curriculum to teach reading and writing using a system called ‘synthetic phonics’, which involves a narrow emphasis on learning about sounds (phonemes) and the letters that stand for those sounds.
But Wyse and Hacking say these policies are in danger of harming children’s education and are ‘a product of political ideology not in children’s best interests’.
Although synthetic phonics schemes can now be found in many classrooms across the world, the latest trend initially started in England. Wyse and Hacking explain how in England, teachers face a unique set of pressures to adopt synthetic phonics as the only approach.
They outline how schools are very strongly encouraged by government Department for Education (DfE) policies to buy often expensive commercial synthetic phonics schemes, and the synthetic phonics policy is also enforced by the inspectorate Ofsted. Children aged 6 are tested in phonics and the results are entered into the national pupil database, with those data used to hold the schools and teachers to account.
Wyse explains: “When children in England are about age six (Year 1) they must all sit a national test to decode a list of individual words that includes nonsense words. In 2023 21% of children did not achieve the expected standard – this is despite more than a decade of this synthetic phonics approach. Clearly, it isn’t working. Our research shows a more effective way to teach reading and writing.”
Previous research, laid out in the book, shows that the potential consequences for children not progressing sufficiently well in reading and writing are profound, and include being less able to access vital services in society; higher probability of poorer mental health, lower wages in life, and even of ending up in prison.
“Despite a wealth of research and scientific evidence to show there are multiple effective ways to teaching reading and writing, the only permitted way is synthetic phonics,” Hacking explains.
11. A balanced approach
In 2022 a landmark research paper by Wyse and Alice Bradbury concluded that a balanced approach to teaching reading was more effective than a narrow synthetic phonics approach.
The paper provided some clear evidence-based recommendations about changes to policy and practice, which were not taken up. The Balancing Act goes further, not least by giving a vivid and detailed account of a new approach to teaching.
Hacking and Wyse, who have extensively examined the evidence, are now promoting a ‘balanced approach’, focusing on using beloved children’s texts to systematically teach the key elements that are vital to learn to read and write, including phonics.
This approach to teaching is explicitly built on new analyses of the most robust research studies undertaken to determine what are the most effective ways to teach phonics, reading, and writing.
They explain: “With this approach, the importance of comprehending and composing the meaning of written language is carefully balanced with the acquisition of a range of skills and knowledge. This enables pupils to see the real purposes for reading and writing.
“Instead of focusing narrowly on the sounds that letters represent, this approach also prioritizes the comprehension of text, the grammar of sentences, and teaching writing to help reading. The balanced approach is about understanding the structure of words and language as a whole.” Contrary to a myth that some people have promoted, a balanced approach is not ‘whole language’ teaching in disguise.
This approach is summarised in a new theory and model, called The Double Helix of Teaching Reading and Writing. The underpinning research of the ‘The Double Helix of Reading and Writing’, has been published today in a peer-reviewed research journal.
12. Using ‘real’ books
Underpinning this balanced approach is the use of ‘real books’, which are of ‘outstanding quality, inclusive, and diverse in their representations of people and places’.
Under synthetic phonics schemes, children are usually given formulaic ‘decodable’ texts designed to repeat a certain sound to encourage familiarization with the sound and a limited number of simple words. In some stages of the synthetic phonics program, the reading of whole texts may even be discouraged, but Wyse and Hacking believe the emphasis should be much more strongly on comprehending and enjoying real whole texts.
“Delighting in real books brings learning to life. This engages children and sustains their motivation to read and write for real purposes and for pleasure,” they explain.
Wyse continues: “Instead of the drive to support money-making from synthetic phonics schemes our approach puts the work of authors of books for children centre stage. Otherwise, children miss out on the art of outstanding illustrator authors, puns, wordplay, imagination, curiosity, creativity and so much more. Our approach is a far cry from narrow synthetic phonics lessons, which even when taught expertly simply haven’t the same appeal for children.”
“Meaning drives our approach to teaching reading and writing. It is the essence of human language, hence it should be the essence of teaching,” Hacking continues. “Teaching about sounds is meaningless unless it is contextualized in words, sentences and whole texts.”
The experts argue that motivating children to read and write is foundational to the balanced approach, and it begins with engaging children through high-quality books.
13. California Teachers Union Kills Science Of Reading Support For Teachers
How can teachers teach kids to read if teachers don’t have the training they need to teach reading the right way?
What sounds like some sort of academic tongue twister is actually a huge challenge right now for many states, including California.
With the nation’s literacy crisis front and center, lawmakers from coast to coast are passing policies to ensure kids are learning to read from educators who are using proven methods—based on the science of reading—that yield positive outcomes.
Until recently, California seemed ready to join this national movement toward high-quality literacy instruction.
With support from more than 50 organizations, including the California PTA and NAACP, Assembly Bill 2222 would have provided much-needed support and training for teachers.
14. It should have had a clear path to victory.
Instead, it died without ever receiving a hearing.
That’s because the California Teachers Association—among the most powerful special interest groups in the state—claimed it might give teachers less say over reading curricula.
Here’s the problem: We know some methods of reading instruction should be tossed in the trash bin of history and never used again, because they don’t align with the science of reading.
The science of reading is about understanding how students learn to read effectively and identifying the best methods for teaching children to decode words, build vocabulary and comprehend text. Research shows that a strong foundation in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, including knowledge building, is key to reading success.
Decades ago, most of us learned to read using that proven approach—remember the old “Hooked on phonics worked for me” catchphrase? But many others were taught using harmful techniques such as three-cueing, which encourages kids to use pictures to guess at words instead of sounding them out.
15. Now, absent clear direction from the state, California’s many school
Yet there’s no time to wait in fixing the problem: California’s student outcomes in reading are trending in the wrong direction.
According to data from NAEP, commonly known as the Nation’s Report Card, less than one-third of California fourth graders score “at or above basic” achievement levels in reading.
That means more than two-thirds of the state’s fourth graders are reading at a level of basic or below. In 2022, California’s average fourth grade reading score hit its lowest point in seven years.
16. Solving this crisis starts with ensuring educators in the classroom
For example, North Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama require state-adopted science of reading training for all K–3 teachers and administrators. Mississippi and Florida require science of reading training for teachers in districts where readers are struggling and make the training available to all teachers. In 2013, Mississippi ranked 49th in the nation for fourth-grade reading; the state moved up to 21st in 2023. Louisiana and Alabama were two out of three states that saw modest gains in fourth grade reading during the pandemic. Florida’s reading turnaround started decades ago, and the Sunshine State has been an early literacy model since then.
By blocking science of reading training, the California teacher’s union is preventing its own members from accessing critical reading resources. And that, in turn, is blocking reading achievement and academic progress for hundreds of thousands of California students.
It’s time for everyone to come to the negotiating table in good faith, with policies that put kids’ best interests front and center. That’s what it will take for California to start turning around its dismal literacy landscape.
Jeb Bush was governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is the founder and chair of ExcelinEd.