Please help us grow this list! Send us your recommendations, and tell us why you suggest them. See bottom of the page for information and contact form.
NON-FICTION
JUSTICE IN SOCIETY
Are Prisons Obsolete? – by Angela Davis
Between the World and Me – by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do – by Jennifer Eberhardt
Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences – by Howard Zehr
How to be Antiracist – by Ibram X. Kendi
Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World – by Baz Dreisinger
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption – by Bryan Stevenson
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor – by Layla F. Saad
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness – by Michelle Alexander
Racism Without Racists – by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
Rethinking Incarceration – by Dominique DuBois Gilliard
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color – edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa
Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims – by Howard Zehr
Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People’s Guide to the Key Civil Rights
Struggle of our time – by James Kilgore
What Will Happen to Me? – by Howard Zehr
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism – by Robin DiAngelo
JUSTICE & LOVE
The Dandelion Insurrection – by Rivera Sun
The Desire for Mutual Recognition – by Peter Gabel (see review)
Forgiving My Daughter’s Killer: A True Story of Loss, Faith, and Unexpected Grace – by Kate Grosmaire & Nancy French
No Future Without Forgiveness – by Desmond Tutu
Overcoming Bias – by Tiffany Jana & Matthew Freeman
The Sunflower – On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness
LAW
Another Way of Seeing – by Peter Gabel
Transforming Justice, Lawyers and the Practice of Law – by Marjorie A. Silver (see review)
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
Little Book of Restorative Justice – by Howard Zehr
Little Book of Victim Offender Conferencing – by Lorraine S. Amstutz
Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice – by Fania Davis
Mending the Divides: Creating Love in a Conflicted World – by Jon Huckins and Jer Swigart
Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction – by Lara Bazelon
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
The Places that Scare You – by Pema Chodron
FICTION
The Mars Room – Rachel Kushner (see review)
Please help us grow this list! Send us your recommendations, and tell us why you suggest them. We’re looking for books that help with one or more of the five objectives below:
- To explore the connection between justice and love, relationship, and restoration.
- Looking at the effects of the belief that justice means punishment.
- To nurture empathy, respect, and love for people experiencing societal injustice. To not see a category or an issue but to see people. To recognize each other not as a threat but as a resource and a priceless gift.
- To nurture empathy, forgiveness, and love for people who are causing societal injustice, and to accept personal responsibility for the perpetuation of the problem, to not scapegoat and push the problem elsewhere, but take responsibility for helping to remedy the situation.
- To share with each other and think about what justice looks like, feels like, acts like, including in difficult situations.
If you have suggestions to help us improve this list or any of our tools, let us know!