A long-form nonfiction account of the 1959 murders of a farming family in rural Kansas and the investigation that followed. The work follows the discovery of the crime, the police inquiry, interviews with townspeople and suspects, and the eventual identification, trial, and punishment of the perpetrators.

Set in antebellum Virginia, the novel tracks interconnected lives in a county shaped by slavery and unexpected ownership dynamics, including Black Americans who themselves become slaveholders.

Richard Wright's Black Boy is a memoir of his childhood and early adulthood, following life in the segregated American South and his later move to Chicago where he begins a writing career and political engagement.

An autobiographical account by Zora Neale Hurston that traces episodes from her life, mixing personal memory with material drawn from folklore and the social customs of Black communities.

An extended piece of narrative journalism that follows postwar U.S. test pilots and the first astronauts selected for Project Mercury, probing why these men accepted extreme danger and how American aviation and space culture valorized risk.

A firsthand memoir of growing up Black and poor in mid-20th-century rural Mississippi, following the author's life from childhood into her twenties.

A multigenerational family saga that traces a Greek-American family's migration, domestic life, and inherited biology which shapes one child's unusual development.

Set in rural Georgia during the cotton/sharecropping era, the novel follows Grange Copeland and the consequences of his decisions across generations.

Set in a near-future America broken by economic collapse, climate effects, and violence, the novel follows Lauren Olamina, a young woman who records her experiences and develops a practical belief system called Earthseed.

An unnamed Black narrator recounts his journey through segregated American life, encountering institutions, movements, and people that test his sense of self.

Set in the U.S. before the Civil War, the novel follows African American characters whose private relationships and household lives intersect with the broader realities of slavery and escape.

A critique of prevailing mid-20th-century urban planning that argues neighborhoods thrive when everyday street life, local commerce, and diverse uses are preserved.