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Arana, Marie. LatinoLand: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority. S. & S. Feb. 2024. 544p. ISBN 9781982184896. $32.50. SOCIAL SCIENCE

Comprising 20 percent of the U.S. population and growing, Latines are a varied group, including Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens; Mexican Americans, some whose forebears lived here since before the U.S.-Mexico border shifted after the U.S. invasion in 1848; and Cuban Americans, who arrived first in Castro’s early years and then with the Mariel boatlift. They range from struggling workers to senators and celebrities, and they don’t all vote Democratic, as they once did. From National Book Award finalist Arana, the inaugural Literary Director of the Library of Congress.

Bitecofer, Rachel & Aaron Murphy. Hit ’Em Where It Hurts: How To Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game. Crown. Feb. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9780593727140. $30. POLITICAL SCIENCE

An election forecaster turned political strategist, Bitecofer predicted to the seat the size of the Democrats' Blue Wave in the 2018 midterms. Now she’s here to insist that arguments about issues don’t determine elections. Most people vote not for but against a candidate, and she urges Democrats to adopt the negative partisanship that Republicans use in their battle for seats. No hold barred here.

Boykin, Keith. Why Does Everything Have To Be About Race?: 25 Arguments That Won’t Go Away. Bold Type: Hachette. Jan. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9781541703315. $30. Downloadable. SOCIAL SCIENCE/CIVIL RIGHTS

The Civil War was about states’ rights, not slavery; affirmative action is reverse discrimination; and Critical Race Theory is indoctrinating children to hate one another: these are some of the 25 arguments, speciously rooted in misinformation and the need to deny Black history and oppression, that the New York Times best-selling Boykin sets out to demolish in his latest book. 

Dixon, Matt. Swamp Monsters: Trump vs. DeSantis—the Greatest Show on Earth (or at Least in Florida). Little, Brown. Jan. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9780316397223. $30. Downloadable. POLITICS

Back in 2017, when Ron DeSantis was struggling to win the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Florida, Donald Trump stepped in to praise him. Now, as DeSantis aims for the White House, Trump is his fiercest opponent. Dixon, a veteran Florida journalist and NBC News senior national politics reporter, gives us the full picture.

Gorani, Hala. But You Don’t Look Arab: And Other Tales of Unbelonging. Hachette. Feb. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9780306831645. $30. Downloadable. MEMOIR

Born in the United States to Syrian parents and raised in France, Emmy Award–winning journalist Gorani has covered the Arab Spring, the Syrian civil war, and the growth of Daesh, among other key topics. But she’s never lived in the Middle East, and as a blonde, blue-eyed woman she’s frequently told, “You don’t look Arab.” Her search for self and frustration with labels led her to track the long history of uprooted ancestors she reveals here.

Gutierrez, Elizabeth Camarillo. My Side of the River: A Memoir. St. Martin’s. Feb. 2024. 272p. ISBN 9781250277954. $29. Downloadable. MEMOIR

The U.S.-born daughter of Mexican immigrants, Gutierrez was entering high school as a top-notch student when her parents were forced to return to Mexico after their visas expired. Left to care for her younger brother and get herself through school, she eventually attended the University of Pennsylvania and is currently serving as a product manager at a Big Tech company. Here she discusses separation trauma, the opportunities and costs of staying in the United States, and the love between her and her brother, who’s pursuing his own dreams

Hunter, Marcus. Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation. Amistad: HarperCollins. Feb. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9780063004726. $29.99. CD. SOCIAL SCIENCE

With the idea of reparations for the descendants of enslaved Black Americans coming to the fore, Hunter, who coined the term #BlackLivesMatter, insists that strictly economic reparations are not enough. He argues for a many-faceted approach to healing the Black community, focusing on political, intellectual, legal, economic, spatial, social, and spiritual needs. Bound to stir conversation.

Klinenberg, Eric. 2020: The Year the World Cracked Open. Knopf. Feb. 2024. 446p. ISBN 9780593319482. $32. SOCIAL SCIENCE/EPIDEMIOLOGY

Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University, Klinenberg argues that Covid didn’t so much cause radical shifts in society as highlight problems already there, particularly the taut dividing lines separating people worldwide by class and race and leading to social injustice, economic inequality, and environmental degradation. With suggestions for moving forward.

Lozada, Carlos. The Washington Book. S. & S. Feb. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9781668050736. $28.99. POLITICS

A Pulitzer Prize–winning opinion columnist at the New York Times, Lozada aims to show us how people in power reveal themselves in what they write, considering not just books and speeches but commission reports, political reporting, Supreme Court decisions, congressional inquiries, letters, and more. No matter how carefully the powerful curate their words, he argues, they end up letting their true selves shine through.

Norris, Michele. Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity. S. & S. Feb. 2024. 528p. ISBN 9781982154394. $32.50. SOCIAL SCIENCE

For the Race Card Project she launched 12 years ago, Washington Post opinion columnist Norris offered readers a simple prompt: Race. Your Story. Six Words. Please Send. From “You’re Pretty for a Black girl” and “White privilege, enjoy it, earned it” to “My ancestors massacred Indians near here” and I’m only Asian when it’s convenient,” the over half a million responses she received reveal in-depth what people in the United States think about themselves and one another.

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