Yes, books are political. And the simple act of reading has never been neutral. Picking up a book, letting words shape your mind, is political in itself. Choosing to read is claiming your right to different ideas, to histories, to new perspectives that others might otherwise try to keep out of reach. Books help us escape reality but reading also helps us understand our reality. 

History shows us that those in power don’t just control the present; they can rewrite the past, even erase stories that don’t fit their narrative. They can decide what’s remembered. Books are our resistance. Knowledge is our power. It reminds us of what was, what could have been, and what might still be possible. This February, let your reading list be more than entertainment: let it be a reminder of where we’ve been, what’s at stake, and the responsibility - and the freedom - we have every time we turn the page.

1. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States by Jon Meacham

About the Book: In the winter of 1860–1861, as the nation faced secession and civil war, Abraham Lincoln clung to America’s founding documents and their core principle: liberty for all. With an introduction by Jon Meacham, these timeless texts illuminate the struggles of the past while urging Americans to treat their ideals as living, urgent guides rather than distant history. As Meacham writes, for America to endure, its foundational texts must be lived and felt, “not theoretical but tactile, not quaint but vivid, not dead but alive.”

From its Pages: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” - Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

2. One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

About the Book: Having come to the West believing in its promise of freedom and justice, Akkad has spent the past twenty years reporting on war, protest, climate collapse, and state violence, from the War on Terror to Ferguson to Gaza, only to conclude that much of that promise was never meant for everyone. This book is a painful awakening, a moral reckoning with how entire groups are excluded from full humanity, and a deeply personal meditation on what it means, as an American and a father, to search for possibility amid ongoing violence.

From its Pages: “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” - Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

3. Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

About the Book: Sciona devotes twenty years to mastering magic in hopes of becoming the first woman admitted to the High Magistry, and when she finally succeeds, she is met with resentment and an unexpected assignment: a janitor instead of a lab assistant. As she and the displaced outsider form an uneasy partnership, they uncover an ancient secret that could change the nature of magic itself - or destroy them in the process.

From its Pages: “Brilliant men,  even moderately intelligent men, in this city get showered with opportunities to succeed. Brilliant women have to fight for those opportunities, and when we get them, we have to defend them tooth and nail, or they'll be snatched away.” - M.L. Wang, Blood Over Bright Haven

4. Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

About the Book: In 1915, as The Birth of a Nation fuels the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and spreads terror across America, Maryse Boudreaux and a small band of resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter among them, take up arms to hunt the hunters and send the Klan’s demons straight to Hell. But as something far darker brews in Macon, their violent reckoning threatens to become a war for the fate of the world itself.

From its Pages: “Reason and law don’t mean much when white folk want their way.” - P. Djeli Clark, Ring Shout

5.  The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank 

About the Book: Discovered in the attic where she spent her final years in hiding, Anne Frank’s diary has become a world classic and a powerful testament to the human spirit amid the horrors of war. Beginning in 1942, as the Nazis occupied Holland, thirteen-year-old Anne, her family, and others lived for two years in the secret rooms of an Amsterdam office building, enduring fear, hunger, boredom, and confinement until their betrayal to the Gestapo. Through thoughtful, moving, and often witty entries, Anne captured daily life in hiding while creating a poignant self-portrait of a sensitive, courageous young girl whose promise was tragically cut short.

From its Pages: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” - Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

6. How Fascism Works: the Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley

About the Book: Stanley outlines ten core pillars of fascist politics, from mythic nationalism and propaganda to anti-intellectualism, hierarchy, and victimhood, using historical insight and global case studies to reveal how rhetoric and myth are weaponized to erode democracy. By exposing these recurring patterns, Stanley argues that only through recognizing them can societies resist their transformation into policy and reclaim democratic ideals.

From its Pages: “The dangers of fascist politics come from the particular way in which it dehumanizes segments of the population. By excluding these groups, it limits the capacity for empathy among other citizens, leading to the justification of inhumane treatment, from repression of freedom, mass imprisonment, and expulsion to, in extreme cases, mass extermination.” - Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works

7. The Will of the Many by James Islington

About the Book: The Catenan Republic rules the world, but it does not know who I truly am. Posing as Vis Telimus, an orphaned student accepted into the Republic’s elite Academy, I pretend to belong and to accept a future where my Will will be drained to empower those above me. In truth, I am there to uncover a murder, locate an ancient weapon, and expose secrets that could shatter the empire that executed my family - and to survive, I must rise through the ranks, deceive my enemies, and win before they decide I am no longer useful.

From its Pages: “There comes a point in every man’s life where he can rail against the unfairness of the world until he loses, or he can do his best in it. Remain a victim, or become a survivor.” - James Islington, The Will of the Many

8. 1984 by George Orwell

About the Book: Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history to serve the Party, but each lie deepens his hatred for a regime that seeks absolute power and punishes independent thought. As he begins to think for himself, Winston discovers there is no escape from Big Brother’s constant surveillance, making 1984 a haunting and enduring vision of a totalitarian world whose warnings about power, control, and truth grow more urgent with time.

From its Pages: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” - George Orwell, 1984

9. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

About the Book: In 1939 Nazi Germany, as Death watches a nation on the brink, foster child Liesel Meminger survives by stealing books and discovering the power of words. With the help of her kind, accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stories with neighbors during bombing raids and with the Jewish man hidden in her basement, finding humanity and hope amid overwhelming darkness.

From its Pages: “Usually we walk around constantly believing ourselves. "I'm okay," we say. "I'm alright". But sometimes the truth arrives on you and you can't get it off. That's when you realize that sometimes it isn't even an answer - it's a question. Even now, I wonder how much of my life is convinced.” - Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

About the Book: Guy Montag is a fireman whose job is to burn books, never questioning the emptiness of his life or the destruction he causes until he meets his curious young neighbor, Clarisse. Through her, he glimpses a world shaped by thought, memory, and books rather than fear and mindless entertainment, forcing him to question everything he has been taught to believe.

From its Pages: “We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?” - Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

11. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

About the Book: Since its 2010 release, this book has transformed the conversation on race and criminal justice, inspiring activists, influencing policy, winning major awards, and spending nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Arguing that racial caste in America has been redesigned, not ended, the book has sparked a generation of reform efforts. 

From its Pages: “Today’s lynching is a felony charge. Today’s lynching is incarceration. Today’s lynch mobs are professionals. They have a badge; they have a law degree. A felony is a modern way of saying, ‘I’m going to hang you up and burn you.’ Once you get that F, you’re on fire.” - Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow 

12. Sunrise on the Reaping: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

About the Book: On the fiftieth Hunger Games, fear grips Panem as twice as many tributes are taken for the Quarter Quell. In District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is focused only on survival and the girl he loves, but when his name is called, he is torn from his home and sent to the Capitol alongside three other tributes. Facing an arena designed for failure, Haymitch must fight not just to survive, but to make a stand that could echo far beyond the deadly Games.

From its Pages: “You were capable of imagining a different future. And maybe it won’t be realized today, maybe not in our lifetime. Maybe it will take generations. We’re all part of a continuum. Does that make it pointless?” - Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping

13. How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt

About the Book: This book examines how democracies can erode from within when political leaders disregard norms, attack institutions, and consolidate power while maintaining a veneer of legitimacy. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples, the authors show that democracy depends not just on laws and elections, but on mutual toleration, institutional restraint, and respect for democratic principles, and that ignoring these unwritten rules can lead to authoritarianism even in established democracies.

From its Pages: “Democracies may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders, presidents or prime ministers who subvert the very process that brought them to power. Some of these leaders dismantle democracy quickly, as Hitler did in the wake of the 1933 Reichstag fire in Germany. More often, though, democracies erode slowly, in barely visible steps.” - Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die

14. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

About the Book: Set in a near-future United States transformed into the theocratic Republic of Gilead, where strict religious law oppresses women and men alike. Told through the eyes of Offred, a Handmaid navigating this brutal society, Margaret Atwood’s prose is at once tender, wry, and harrowing, revealing a world in which existing social tendencies are carried to their extremes.

From its Pages: “Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some.” - Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

15. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

About the Book: Princeton sociologist Desmond follows eight Milwaukee families struggling to keep a roof over their heads, offering a vivid, wrenching look at poverty and economic exploitation. The book transforms our understanding of housing insecurity and its consequences, revealing both hope and loss while underscoring the vital role of having a home in modern America.

From its Pages: “It is hard to argue that housing is not a fundamental human need. Decent, affordable housing should be a basic right for everybody in this country. The reason is simple: without stable shelter, everything else falls apart.” - Matthew Desmond, Evicted

16. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder

About the Book: The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. This book is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come.

From its Pages: “A nationalist will say that “it can’t happen here,” which is the first step toward disaster. A patriot says that it could happen here, but that we will stop it.” - Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny

17. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones

About the Book: In August 1619, a ship arrived in Virginia carrying people stolen from Africa, marking the start of American chattel slavery, a legacy that continues to shape the United States. This book weaves essays, poems, and fiction to explore how slavery’s inheritance touches every part of American life, from politics and capitalism to culture and democracy, revealing truths about the nation’s founding and the enduring systems of race and caste that define our society today.

From its Pages: “White Americans desire to be free of a past they do not want to remember, while Black Americans remain bound to a past they can never forget.” - Nikole Hannah-Jones, The 1619 Project

18. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

About the Book: When Rin, a war orphan from Rooster Province, earns a place at Nikan’s elite military academy, she escapes a life of servitude but quickly faces prejudice for her poverty, color, and gender. As she uncovers a dangerous gift for shamanism under a mysterious mentor, Rin awakens a vengeful god whose power may be the empire’s only hope - if she can survive the cost to her humanity as war looms.

From its Pages: “War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains.” - R.F. Kuang, The Poppy War

19. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

About the Book: Brave New World is a classic vision of a technologically advanced future where humans are genetically engineered, socially conditioned, and drugged into compliance, sacrificing freedom and humanity to uphold an authoritarian order. Written amid the rise of 1930s fascism, Huxley’s masterpiece remains urgently relevant, warning of the power of technology, mass entertainment, and elite influence while offering a profound, thought-provoking exploration of civilization and human nature.

From its Pages: “Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.” - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

20. It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

About the Book: Lewis’s powerful cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, offers a chillingly realistic vision of how fascism could rise in America. Written during the Great Depression, it blends sharp political satire with the story of a president who seizes dictatorial power under the guise of protecting the nation from crime, welfare fraud, and a liberal press.

From its Pages: “Under a tyranny, most friends are a liability. One quarter of them turn “reasonable” and become your enemies, one quarter are afraid to stop and speak, and one quarter are killed and you die with them. But the blessed final quarter keep you alive.” - Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here

21. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

About the Book: Marie-Laure, a blind girl living in Paris with her father, learns to navigate her neighborhood by touch before fleeing Nazi-occupied France to Saint-Malo with a priceless museum jewel. In Germany, orphan Werner becomes a gifted radio technician, earning a place in the Hitler Youth and a mission to track the Resistance, which ultimately brings him to Saint-Malo, where their lives intersect.

From its Pages: “You know the greatest lesson of history? It’s that history is whatever the victors say it is. That’s the lesson. Whoever wins, that’s who decides history.” - Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See

22. The Kite Runner by Khalid Houssini

About the Book: The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, caught in the tragic sweep of history, The Kite Runner transports readers to Afghanistan at a tense and crucial moment of change and destruction. A powerful story of friendship, it is also about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons, their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

From its Pages: “And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.” - Khalid Houssini, The Kite Runner

23. The Lilac People by Milo Todd

About the Book: In 1932 Berlin, trans man Bertie and his friends enjoy life at the Eldorado Club while he works at Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute to advance queer rights. But with Hitler’s rise, the Institute is raided, the club closed, and queer people persecuted, forcing Bertie and his girlfriend Sofie to hide as an elderly couple on a remote farm for over a decade. In the war’s final days, they rescue a young trans man in Holocaust prison clothes, navigating new dangers under the Allies, and ultimately flee to the United States for survival.

From its Pages: “They try to convince people that you're the only group they're after, when really, you're just the first one. They look for the first domino to knock down, the one people will give the least resistance to, the one they care about the least. And once they've done it, it might be too late for everyone else.” - Milo Todd, The Lilac People

24. By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle

About the Book: Before 2020, American Indian reservations covered far less land than National Forests, reflecting a long history of broken promises. By the Fire We Carry traces the Muscogee people’s forced exile in the 1830s, the creation of Oklahoma atop their land, and the generations-long fight for tribal sovereignty, culminating in the 2020 Supreme Court ruling that reaffirmed reservations across nearly half the state. Blending historic resistance with contemporary legal battles, the book is a landmark account of Native-led justice and the ongoing struggle for land and rights in America

From its Pages: “The fight over truth is so bitter because power flows from the dominant narrative - the power to shape both public sentiment and public policy.” - Rebecca Nagle, By the Fire We Carry

25. The Dandelion Insurrection: Love and Revolution by Rivera Sun

About the Book: Set in a dystopian near‑future America where tyranny and corporate power suppress dissent, making peaceful assembly and free speech crimes. Under the leadership of Zadie Byrd Gray and Charlie Rider, ordinary people organize a grassroots uprising rooted in nonviolent action, love, and community to resist oppression and revive democracy, sparking a hopeful revolution against greed and authoritarian control. 

From its Pages: “Humans hadn't even fully acknowledged the equal rights of each other, let alone those of animals or the planet. Animal slavery was as common as housecats and feedlots. Subjugation of ecosystems for natural resources ran as rampant as the rape and abuse of women. The same mentality that sought to possess and extract from the land also sought absolute dominance over the Internet and computers. And now this current corporate-political regime strove to shove humanity back into the dark ages just when our survival depended on recognizing the equal rights of all creation.” - Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection

26. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

About the Book: Never Let Me Go is a dystopian novel about children raised at an English boarding school, only to learn they are clones created to donate organs. Narrated by Kathy H., the story follows her relationships with Ruth and Tommy as they confront love, memory, and the quiet horror of a fate designed to strip them of choice and humanity.

From its Pages: “We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all.” - Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go

27. They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer

About the Book: They Thought They Were Free examines ten ordinary Germans who joined the Nazi Party, exploring how everyday people became complicit in evil. Based on postwar interviews in a small Hessian town, the book is a powerful reminder that no society is inherently immune to authoritarianism or moral compromise.

From its Pages: " In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next." - Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free

28. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee

About the Book: McGhee examines how racism, not just its effects on people of color, but its costs to all of us, shapes the American economy, public policy, and society. Traveling across the country, she shows how inequality, collapsed public goods, and stalled progress are fueled by a zero-sum mindset, while also highlighting the “Solidarity Dividend”: the transformative power of people working together across race to create a better, more equitable society.

From its Pages: “Wanting someone to stand for the national anthem rather than stand up for justice means loving the symbol more than what it symbolizes.” - Heather McGhee, The Sum of Us

29. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

About the Book: Set in rural Appalachia, Demon Copperhead follows a boy born to a teen mother, navigating foster care, poverty, addiction, and fleeting successes with wit and survival instinct. Told in his own voice, the novel is a modern David Copperfield, exploring how children endure and reckon with the lasting effects of institutional poverty and neglect.

From its Pages: “The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between.” - Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

30. Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

About the Book: Marcos’s life is unraveling: his wife gone, his father fading, and his work increasingly grotesque. In a world where all animal meat is poisonous and human meat is legal, he tries to keep his distance. But when he’s given a live “specimen,” his growing attachment forces him to confront what’s been lost - and what might still be saved.

From its Pages: “Everyone says that he fell because he flew too close to the sun,” his father said, “but he flew, do you see what I mean, Son? He was able to fly. It doesn’t matter if you fall, if you were a bird for even just a few seconds.” - Augustiina Bazterrica, Tender is the Flesh