Whenever you buy a book from our online store, we may make a small commission which supports our work. Visit our online store here.
Every friend group has its own set of personality types. There is the planner, for example, who organizes everything from trips to hangouts, and the life of the party, who gets everyone excited. There is also the intellectually curious one—the person who loves reading widely and can engage in thoughtful conversations with anyone. This friend knows the right books to recommend at any given time.
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of seven books that will make you the smart friend. From an examination of the evolution of identity politics to an account of the political systems that determine life and death, the books on this list will make you the go-to person for intelligent conversations within your friend group.
Read our recommendations below.
known and strange things
Author: teju cole
Genre: non-Fiction
Nigerian-American author Teju Cole intrigued many readers in 2016 with the publication of his book of essays, Known and Strange Things, which has been described as ‘blazingly intelligent’. The essays in this covers politics, history, art, literature, film. With examinations of the works of writers like James Baldwin and V. S. Naipaul; poets like Tomas Tranströmer; photographers like Malick Sidibe—Known and Strange Things is a highly culturally-empowering book.
Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race
AUTHOR: reni eddo-lodge
GENRE: non-fiction
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race started in 2014 as a post on Nigerian-British journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge’s blog. It was a relatively short post in which Eddo-Lodge expressed frustration over ‘the gulf of an emotional disconnect that white people display when a person of colour articulates their experience.’ She never envisioned that the post would become as popular as it turned out to be. A few years later, in 2017, Eddo-Lodge decided to fully address the topic in a book.
In Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Eddo-Lodge considers the links between gender, class, and race in Britain, providing an account of the experiences of Black people in the UK, from the Atlantic slave trade to the contemporary period. Eddo-Lodge covers everything from the institutionalization of racism to the failings of white feminism to white anxiety.
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Experiments
AUTHOR: Saidiya hartman
GENRE: non-fiction
In the early 20th century in Philadelphia, many Black women experienced a cultural revolution that featured a rise in free loving, queer relations, and transient marriages. These new ways of life challenged the traditional Victorian view of life, constituting a radical approach to love and family. In her 2019 book, Saidiyia Hartman examines this radical social transformation, giving a vivid account of its origins and brilliance. She blends history with the fecund imagination that characterizes the best literature, to show us the many ways ordinary Black women approached the question of freedom in life.
Cassava Republic Press is proud to announce the launch of their inaugural $20,000 Global Black Women’s Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize dedicated to exceptional works by Black women. Deadline: 30th June 2024. Learn more here.
Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics
AUTHOR: bell hooks
GENRE: non-fiction
Feminism is for Everybody is a 2000 book by American academic and social critic bell hooks which examines the nature of feminism. In the book, hooks offers a simple definition of feminism as a movement to help sexist oppression, encouraging readers to consider how feminism can help better their lives. She introduces feminist theory to readers in simple, accessible language, exploiting common sense and the wisdom of lived experience. It is an essential read for anyone interested in feminism.
necropolitics
Author: Achille mbembe
Genre: non-fiction
Congolese historian and political theorist Achille Mbembe has become globally popular for his concept of ‘necropolitics’, a sociopolitical theory that examines the role political power plays in determining how people live and how ‘others’ must die. Mbembe first explored the concept in his 2003 article, ‘Necropolitics’, before engaging with it in full in his 2019 book, Necropolitics.
In Necropolitics, Mbembe argues that racism is a major factor that drives necropolitics. He examines how political and social authorities create the categories of self and other and designate the other as inferior, with ‘systematically cheapened’ lives. Necropolitics gives readers a sense of the overarching systems that structure our seemingly haphazard lives.
THE man died: Prison Notes of Wole Soyinka
AUTHOR: wole soyinka
GENRE: non-fiction
In 1967, at the beginning of the Nigerian Civil war, young Nigerian writer, and vociferous denouncer of the war Wole Soyinka was arrested by the Nigerian police and detained for 22 months, including in solitary confinement. He was only 33 years old, a young lecturer at the University of Ibadan’s School of Drama.
The Man Died: Prison Notes of Wole Soyinka is the author’s account of the experience of imprisonment by the Nigerian military regime. However, more than merely narrating the daily experiences of prison, the book occasionally offers sustained critiques and commentaries on Nigerian politics, especially of during the civil war era. There are also scraps of the writings that Soyinka engaged in during his time in solitary confinement, which aim to paint for us Soyinka’s emotional and mental states during the ordeal.
Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)
AUTHOR: Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
GENRE: NON-Fiction
In Nigerian philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò’s book, Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else), he traces the concept of identity politics back to its formation by the Black feminist Combahee River Collective, providing an account of how radically the meaning of the term has changed since then. Táíwò believes that contrary to how the Collective conceived of it, identity politics has been hijacked by political, social, and economic elites, who have ‘weaponized [it] as a means of closing ranks around ever-narrower conceptions of group interests.’