From Powells.com
Staff recommendations, guest essays, and curated reading lists.
Hot new releases and under-the-radar gems for adults and kids.
Staff Pick
Reading like a series of political essays, this autobiography heralds one of the most articulate, wise, and necessary voices of our time. Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Khan-Cullors's relentless compassion and commitment to raising up all black lives serve as a powerful beacon for change. Recommended By Aubrey W., Powells.com
Patrisse Khan-Cullors's compassionate memoir is, among many things, an imperative to seek connection and build community as a countermeasure to injustice and dehumanization. Recommended By Hayley H., Powells.com
This was a powerful read by Black Lives Matter movement cofounder Patrisse Khan-Cullors. When They Call You a Terrorist provides moving and poetic insight into the pervasive damage of anti-blackness. Incredibly personal and also hopeful about the future of intersectional community activism, this is just the book I needed to kick off a new year. Recommended By Britney T., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
The emotional and powerful story of one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter and how the movement was born.
From one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement comes a poetic memoir and reflection on humanity. Necessary and timely, Patrisse Cullors' story asks us to remember that protest in the interest of the most vulnerable comes from love. Leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement have been called terrorists, a threat to America. But in truth, they are loving women whose life experiences have led them to seek justice for those victimized by the powerful. In this meaningful, empowering account of survival, strength, and resilience, Patrisse Cullors and asha bandele seek to change the culture that declares innocent black life expendable.
Review
"I admire Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele's courage not to stay silent about what matters in our world. Responsible, awakening and powerful." Nick Cannon
Review
"To call the founders of BLM terrorists is an unconscionable lie. This strikingly beautiful memoir puts the lie to the notion that Black Lives Matter comes from anything other than a place of love--love of self, community, people, and, ultimately, the very soul of a democratic nation. BLM seeks to acknowledge the truth, and Patrisse Cullors' story is a moral example to the nation." Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times bestselling author of Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America
Review
“It is a story our nation desperately needs to hear, especially right now. Our country has been at war with its own people for decades…This remarkable book reveals what inspired Patrisse’s visionary and courageous activism and forces us to face the consequence of the choices our nation made when we criminalized a generation.” Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow
About the Author
Patrisse Khan-Cullors is an artist, organizer, and freedom fighter from Los Angeles, CA. Cofounder of Black Lives Matter, she is also a performance artist, Fulbright scholar, popular public speaker, and the 2017 Sydney Peace Prize recipient.
asha bandele is the award-winning author of The Prisoner’s Wife and four other works. Honored for her work in journalism and activism, asha is a mother, a former senior editor at Essence and a senior director at the Drug Policy Alliance.
Powell's Books on PowellsBooks.Blog
There are numerous excellent books about the Black Lives Matter movement, and more broadly, racial injustice and activism, but the ones below — with their formidable integrity, strength, intelligence, and passion — struck a particular chord with us...
Read More»