New African and African American Studies Titles from Penguin Random House

By Allan Spencer | March 11 2024 | African American History

Browse these new and notable titles for use in your African and African American Studies courses. To request complimentary exam copies for course-use consideration, click here. 

The Black Box
Writing the Race
978-0-593-29978-4
A magnificent, foundational reckoning with how Black Americans have used the written word to define and redefine themselves, in resistance to the lies of racism and often in heated disagreement with each other, over the course of the country’s history.
$30.00 US
Mar 19, 2024
Hardcover
304 Pages
Penguin Press

James
A Novel
978-0-385-55036-9
A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.
$28.00 US
Mar 19, 2024
Hardcover
320 Pages
Doubleday

You Get What You Pay For
Essays
978-0-525-51144-1
The award-winning author of Magical Negro traces the trauma and beauty of existing as a Black woman back through American history, from the foundational trauma of the slave trade all the way up to Serena Williams and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
$28.00 US
Mar 12, 2024
Hardcover
224 Pages
One World

The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts
A Novel
978-1-64622-218-6
“Mothers never die. Children love to resurrect us in they stories.” Folktales and spirits animate this lively and unforgettable coming-of-age tale of two Jamaican-Trinidadian sisters in Brooklyn grappling with their mother’s illness, their father’s infidelity, and the truth of their family’s past.
$16.95 US
Mar 05, 2024
Paperback
288 Pages
Catapult

Half American
The Heroic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad
978-1-9848-8041-3
The definitive history of World War II from the African American perspective, by award-winning historian and civil rights expert.
Winner of the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Nonfiction,  a New York Times Notable Book of 2022, a 2022 Book of the Year from TIME, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and more.
$19.00 US
Jan 09, 2024
Paperback
400 Pages
Penguin Books

Great Expectations
A Novel
978-0-593-44823-6
A historic presidential campaign changes the trajectory of a young Black man’s life in the highly anticipated debut novel from one of The New Yorker’s rising stars.
$28.00 US
Mar 12, 2024
Hardcover
272 Pages
Hogarth

These Letters End in Tears
A Novel
978-1-64622-186-8
Set in a country where being gay is punishable by law, These Letters End in Tears is the heart-wrenching forbidden love story of a Christian girl with a rebellious heart and a Muslim girl leading a double life.
$27.00 US
Mar 12, 2024
Hardcover
240 Pages
Catapult

Victim
A Novel
978-0-385-54997-4
MOST ANTICIPATED: WASHINGTON POST, TIME, & MORE • There’s a fine line between bending the truth and telling bold-faced lies, and Javier Perez is willing to cross it. Victim is a fearless satire about a hustler from the Bronx who sees through the veneer of diversity initiatives and decides to cash in on the odd currency of identity.
“A crowning achievement.”—New York Times Book Review • “You will burn through Victim and find your hands scalded when you are done . . . Pitch perfect.”—Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming
$27.00 US
Mar 12, 2024
Hardcover
288 Pages
Doubleday