“This is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism” by Don Lemon, 2021, Little, Brown, 224 pages, $28

“The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship” by Deborah Willis, 2021, New York University Press, 256 pages, $35

“The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World” by Virginia Postrel, 2020, Basic Books, 305 pages, $30

“Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong” by Georgina Lawton, 2021, Harper Perennial, 304 pages, $17.99; and

“The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation” by Anna Malaika Tubbs, 2021, Flatiron Books, 272 pages, $28.99

“Blood Grove: An Easy Rawlins Novel” by Walter Mosley, 2021, Mulholland Books, 309 pages, $27

“The Coolest Stuff on Earth: A Closer Look at the Weird, Wild, and Wonderful” by National Geographic Kids, 2020, National Geographic, 192 pages, $19.99

“Just As I Am” by Cicely Tyson with Michelle Burford, 2021, Harper Collins, $28.99, 416 pages

“Nine Days: The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life and Win the 1960 Election” by Stephen Kendrick and Paul Kendrick, 2021, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 353 pages, $28

“Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America” by Ijeoma Oluo, 2020, Seal Press, 336 pages, $28

“Kamala’s Way: An American Life” by Dan Morain, 2021, Simon & Schuster, 259 pages, $28

You can say a poem, you can rap one or you can read one so why not read a few in these great poetry books.

“Leave It As It Is: A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt’s American Wilderness” by David Gessner, 2020, Simon & Schuster, 339 pages, $28

“Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America” by Michael Eric Dyson, 2020, St. Martin’s Press, 240 pages, $25.99

“The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias: How to Reframe Bias, Cultivate Connection, and Create High-Performing Teams” by Pamela Fuller & Mark Murphy with Anne Chow, 2020, Simon & Schuster, 304 pages, $28

“The Christmas Table” by Donna VanLiere, 2020, St. Martin’s Press, 240 pages, $17.99

“Dear Justyce” by Nic Stone, 2020, Crown, 267 pages, $18.99

“Swish! The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters” by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Don Tate, 2020, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 40 pages, $17.99

“Heroes Wear Masks: Elmo’s Super Adventure” by Lillian Jane, pictures by Ernie Kwait, 2020, Sourcebooks, 40 pages, $7.99