Ta-Nehisi Coates Reading List (19 books)

TNC is one of the most interesting public intellectuals today. He's provided a list of books that shaped his thinking on race in the US (while preparing for his article The Case for Reparations): here they are.

flag

All Votes Add Books To This List

1	The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (Goodreads Author) 4.48 avg rating — 116,481 ratings score: 696, and 7 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson 4.40 avg rating — 33,825 ratings score: 292, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter 4.07 avg rating — 3,202 ratings score: 290, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America by Beryl Satter 4.35 avg rating — 606 ratings score: 199, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5	American Slavery, American Freedom by Edmund S. Morgan 4.12 avg rating — 3,538 ratings score: 191, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	Life and Times of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass 4.35 avg rating — 1,947 ratings score: 187, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7	Black Folk Here and There by St. Clair Drake really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 9 ratings score: 186, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
8	Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago 1940-1960 by Arnold R. Hirsch 4.10 avg rating — 344 ratings score: 184, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
9	Monopoly X: How Top-Secret World War II Operations Used the Game of Monopoly to Help Allied POWs Escape, Conceal Spies, and Send Secret Codes by Philip E. Orbanes 4.12 avg rating — 232 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow 3.90 avg rating — 46,453 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
11	Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect by Robert J. Sampson 3.75 avg rating — 300 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
11	The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin 4.55 avg rating — 120,345 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
13	American apartheid by Nancy A. Denton 4.13 avg rating — 1,607 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit by Thomas J. Sugrue 4.24 avg rating — 2,223 ratings score: 95, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
15	American Odyssey - A History of a Great City by Robert E. Conot 4.36 avg rating — 22 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States by Kenneth T. Jackson 4.04 avg rating — 2,077 ratings score: 93, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
17	White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812 by Winthrop D. Jordan 4.21 avg rating — 382 ratings score: 92, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household by Thavolia Glymph 4.30 avg rating — 471 ratings score: 87, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
19	Stuck in Place: Urban Neighborhoods and the End of Progress toward Racial Equality by Patrick Sharkey 4.08 avg rating — 145 ratings score: 85, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars