Check out every book selected for our #BookoftheWeek series, all available for free to read in the Public Knowledge Library!
Activism
Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong
by Dawn B. Mabalon & Gayle RomasantaLittle Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
by Vashti HarrisonOf Poetry and Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin
by Michael Warr & Philip CushwayOn Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
by Timothy SnyderRad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History
by Kate Schatz & Miriam StahlRevolting Librarians
by Celeste West & Elizabeth Katz
We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: The Promise of Civic Renewal in America
by Peter Levine
When We Fight We Win: Twenty-First-Century Social Movements and the Activists That Are Transforming Our World
by Greg Jobin-Leads & AgitArts
Art
9.5 Theses on Art and Class
by Ben DavisArt and the Global Economy
by John ZarobellArtistic License: The Philosophical Problems of Copyright and Appropriation
by Darren Hudson HickBlack Romantic: The Figurative Impulse in Contemporary African-American Art
by Michelle WilkinsonBroad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (in That Order)
by Bridget QuinnCodex Espangliensis: From Columbus to the Border Patrol
by Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Enrique Chagoya, and Felicia RiceEtel Adnan
by Etel Adnan and Kaelen Wilson-GoldieHalf-Life of a Dream: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Logan Collection
by Logan CollectionsMartin Wong: Human Instamatic
by Antonio Sergio BessaMuseum Trip
by Barbara LehmanPublic Servants: Art and the Crisis of the Common Good
by Johanna Burton, Shannon Jackson, and Dominic WillsdonSearch Engine Art
by Gretchen Andrew and Irini PapadimitriouSuzanne Lacy: We Are Here
by Rudolf Frieling, Lucía Sanromán, Dominic WillsdonTaking Part: A Workshop Approach to Collective Creativity
by Lawrence Halprin and Jim BurnsThe Train: RFK’s Last Journey
by Paul Fusco, Rein Jelle Terpstra, and Philippe ParrenoUnexpected Art: Serendipitous Installations, Site-Specific Works, and Surprising Interventions
by Jenny Moussa SpringWhat We Made: Conversations on Art and Social Cooperation
by Tom FinkelpearlWhitewalling: Art, Race & Protest in 3 Acts
by Aruna D’Souza
Cities
Architecture According to Pigeons
by Speck Lee TailfeatherBlack San Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 1900-1954
by Albert S. BroussardCall Them by Their True Names: American Crises
by Rebecca SolnitCity for Sale: The Transformation of San Francisco
by Chester HartmanGreen Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability
by David OwenImperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin
by Gray BrechinInfinite City: A San Francisco Atlas
by Rebecca SolnitMeanwhile in San Francisco: The City in Its Own Words
by Wendy MacNaughtonMonumental: Récords y Maravillas del la Arquitectura
by Sarah TavernierPalaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life
by Eric KlinenbergSan Francisco Is Burning: The Untold Story of the 1906 Earthquake and Fires
by Dennis SmithThe City & The City
by China MiévilleThe City by the Bay: A Magical Journey Around San Francisco
by Tricia Brown & Elisa KlevenThe Library Book
by Susan OrleanThe Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society
by Lucy Lippard
Culture
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo
by Jill TwistA New Deal for the American People
by Roger BilesAmerica is Not the Heart
by Elaine CastilloExpulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy
by Saskia SassenFascination: Memoirs
by Kevin KillianHeaven is All Goodbyes
by Tongo Eisen-MartinInsurrecto
by Gina ApostolOutline
by Rachel CuskReading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
by Azar NafisiThe Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir
by Thi BuiThe Great Believers
by Rebecca MakkaiThe Hate U Give
by Angie ThomasThe Power: A Novel
by Naomi AldermanThere, There
by Tommy OrangeWriters Who Love Too Much: New Narrative Writing, 1977-1997
by Dodie Bellamy & Kevin Killian
Education
A Universal History of the Destruction of Books: From Ancient Sumer to Modern-day Iraq
by Fernando BaezNational Parks: A Kid’s Guide to America’s Parks, Monuments, and Landmarks
by Erin McHughTeacher as Stranger: Educational Philosophy for the Modern Age
by Maxine GreeneThe Card Catalog: Books, Cards, and Literary Treasures
by Carla Hayden and Peter DevereauxThe Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
by Richard RothsteinThe Constitution of California and the United States, with Related Documents
by California State LegislatureThe Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump
by Michiko KakutaniThe Overstory
by Richard PowersThink in Public: A Public Books Reader
by Public BooksUnpacking My Library: Artists and Their Books
by Jo Steffens and Matthias Neumann
Walden
by Henry David Thoreau
Technology
A Hacker Manifesto
by McKenzie WarkBiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google
by John PalfreyDigital Cash The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, and Technologists Who Created Cryptocurrency
by Finn BruntonMr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
by Robin SloanNew York 2140
by Kim Stanley RobinsonSurveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet
by Yasha LevineThe Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
by Shoshana ZuboffThe Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World
by Lawrence Lessig