JCUA’s 5783 Book Recommendations

There’s a great young adult graphic trilogy called Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch. It’s one of the first (and only) examples of really good, thorough representation of Orthodox Jews in young adult literature and graphic novels/comics. It allowed me to explore my own creativity in ways I never had before. Leela Wittenberg Trubowitz

I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle by Charles Payne is my all-time favorite book about organizing. Payne conducted extensive interviews with organizers and leaders in the Black freedom movement in Greenwood, Mississippi to provide a deep, local history of the movement that shows how everyday people, especially Black women, doing what Ella Baker called “spadework,” drove the movement forward. The book is an essential antidote to the “Montgomery to Memphis” charismatic male leadership narrative. It also thoughtfully explores some of the tensions within the movement — between local and national organizations; between organizers committed to nonviolence and leaders committed to self-defense; and between older and younger generations. Joe Grant

Prisons By Any Other Name by Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law. Maya Schenwar is a Chicagoan and this book is filled with examples of how “alternatives to incarceration” cause a significant amount of harm, and references Chicago organizing campaigns against carceral systems. Important and necessary reading for anyone doing any organizing around issues pertaining to policing and incarceration. Elena Gormley, MSW

It’s not quite a book, but I’d recommend reading the script of Lorraine Hansberry‘s classic play, “A Raisin in the Sun.” Hansberry paints a powerful portrait of postwar working class Black life in Chicago as the toxic forces of urban renewal take hold. As we work to Bring Chicago Home today, it’s important to remember the racist policy decisions that deprived generations of Black people in our city from access to wealth and housing. Jonah Karsh

Killing the Black Body by Dorothy Roberts is a seminal text on reproductive justice that is critical reading as many of Illinois’ neighboring states ban abortion. Allison Tanner

There are so many to recommend but these books I’m thinking about are some really good reads that relate to organizing, politics, and identity. I really appreciated reading Fire on the Prairie: Chicago’s Harold Washington and the Politics of Race several years ago. More recently, Emergent Strategy by adrienne marie brown; Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann, and Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation by Eli Clare. Marla Bramble

We Do this Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba. This book was foundational for me! It helped challenge by understanding of what organizing and activism actually means. Highly recommend for anyone developing their political consciousness. asia smith

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This book is all about abolitionist organizing and transformative justice. Sometimes these big ideas can sometimes feel abstract or theoretical, but they are written about clearly and feel so accessible in this book. I have learned so much from Mariame Kaba about how to think about short term concrete organizing wins leading to bold, hopeful visions for a more just world. And, I think transformative justice is a beautiful and important theme for the high holiday season. Thinking about this brings up questions for me like: What can I do in my everyday life to move towards the world I one day want to see? How can we use moments of repairing harm to practice creating systems that can be used on a bigger scale? Mara Wolkoff

We are the Weather by Jonathan Safran Foer, an amazing book about the relationship between climate change and consumption of animal products. Aitan Licht

The Body Is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor. This book is a powerful exploration of radical self love. Taylor highlights the interconnectedness between love for ourselves and love for others and presents social justice work as “radical self love in action.” I loved the way this book not only changed the way I treat my own body but also how I treat all the bodies around me. Rose Shapiro

Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit. This is a short, sweet book. I read the whole thing on Yom Kippur a few years ago. Revisiting lessons from the global justice and anti-war movements, it’s a call to believe that what we do matters. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to feel more hopeful. Becca Lubow