Classic Lines’ Anti-Racist Reading Guide

Our beloved local bookstore, Classic Lines, has released an anti-racist reading list (reprinted below). To support one of our local businesses while learning how to combat racism, email classiclinesbooks@gmail.com to order a book, or visit the store in person!

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo. $16.00

Explains and unpacks “white fragility” – the counterproductive reactions white people have when discussing racism – which serves to maintain the racist status quo.​

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. $16.99

Widespread reporting on aspects of white supremacy—from police brutality to the mass incarceration of Black Americans—has put a media spotlight on racism in our society. Still, it is a difficult subject to talk about. How do you tell your roommate her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law take umbrage when you asked to touch her hair—and how do you make it right? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend?

The Antifa Comic Book : 100 Years of Fascism and Antifa Movements by Gord Hil. $17.95

The shocking images of neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, North Carolina in the summer of 2017 linger in the mind, but so do those of the passionate protestors who risked their lives to do the right thing. In this stirring graphic non-fiction book by the acclaimed author of the 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book, Gord Hill looks at the history of fascism over the last 100 years, and the concurrent antifa movements that work fastidiously to topple it.

Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook by Mark Bray. $16.99

“Focused and persuasive… Bray’s book is many things: the first English-language transnational history of antifa, a how-to for would-be activists, and a record of advice from anti-Fascist organizers past and present.”—The New Yorker

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi. $19.99

“Ambitious, well-researched and worth the time of anyone who wants to understand racism.” —Seattle Times

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. $18.99

Here, two authors with impeccable credentials adapt the National-Book-Award winning book about the history of racism in America for the teen activists who are looking to tackle the issue and are already changing the world.

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. $27.00

From the National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a refreshing approach that will radically reorient America on the urgent issues of race, justice, and equality.

Plus one bonus title!

This book wasn’t on the Classic Lines list, but may be of interest to anyone interested in a book with more of a local focus! What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker is a memoir by Damon Young about growing up as an African American man in Pittsburgh’s East End. While the book discusses serious topics, Young’s writing is hilarious and easy to read.