1. Tupac: Resurrection by Jacob Hoye

A stunningly designed, richly illustrated companion to the Academy Award-nominated documentary film, "Tupac: Resurrection" brings unprecedented clarity and soulful intimacy to the life and work of the late Tupac Shakur. In many ways the autobiography he never got to write, "Tupac: Resurrection" features the artist in his own words, letters, and poems.

 2. Hurricane: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter by James Hirsch

In 1967, the black boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and a young acquaintance, John Artis, were wrongly convicted of triple murder by an all-white jury in Paterson, New Jersey. Over the next decade, Carter gradually amassed convincing evidence of his innocence and the vocal support of celebrities from Bob Dylan to Muhammad Ali. He was freed in 1976 pending a new trial, but he lost his appeal—to the amazement of many—and landed back in prison.

3. Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism by James W. Loewen

No blacks allowed, especially after dark. This was the unwritten rule in a "sundown" town. In his trademark revelatory style, bestselling author James W. Loewen explores one of America's best-kept secrets as he unearths the making of sundown towns and discloses the fact that many white neighborhoods and suburbs are the result of years of racism and segregation. Anna, Illinois; Darien, Connecticut; and Cedar Key, Florida, are just a few examples of the thousands of all-white towns established between 1890 and 1968, many of which still exist today.

4. Callus on My Soul: A Memoir by Dick Gregory

Born into the kind of crushing poverty that can destroy the spirit, Gregory used his razor-sharp intellect to become a comic, a pillar of the civil rights movement, a nutritionist, and a voice for social activism. Provocative and controversial, he presents a gritty, no-holds-barred account of a life that continues to influence the world.

 5. The Violence of Peace: America’s Wars in the Age of Obama

The bestselling author of "The Emperor of Ocean Park" decodes what President Obama's views on war mean for America and its role in military conflict, now and going forward.

 6. Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Black Athlete by William C. Rhoden

From Jackie Robinson to Muhammad Ali and Arthur Ashe, African American athletes have been at the center of modern culture, their on-the-field heroics admired and stratospheric earnings envied. But for all their money, fame, and achievement, says New York Times columnist William C. Rhoden, black athletes still find themselves on the periphery of true power in the multibillion-dollar industry their talent built. Rhoden makes the cogent argument that black athletes' "evolution" has merely been a journey from literal plantations—where sports were introduced as diversions to quell revolutionary stirrings—to today's figurative ones, in the form of collegiate and professional sports programs.