Skip to content Skip to section navigation
The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change
By Adam Braun
DB 78942, Available on BARD
Founder of Pencils of Promise--an international educational nonprofit--recounts changing careers in his mid-twenties, from working on Wall Street to community organizing. Discusses the personal qualities needed for doing such work. Bestseller. 2014.
Download The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Created Extraordinary Change, DB 78942
A Queer History of the United States
By Michael Bronski
DBC 573, Available on BARD
Using numerous primary documents and literature, as well as social histories, takes the reader through the centuries--from Columbus' arrival and the brutal treatment the Native peoples received, through the American Revolution's radical challenging of sex and gender roles--to the violent, and liberating, 19th century--and the transformative social justice movements of the 20th. A Queer History of the United States is not so much about queer history as it is about all American history--and why it should matter to both LGBT people and heterosexuals alike. Some strong language and explicit descriptions of sex.
Download A Queer History of the United States, DBC 00573
Silent Spring
By Rachel Carson
BR 11887, DB 20184, Available on BARD
The author criticizes man's large-scale use of chemical insecticides and weed killers, warning that such a policy jeopardizes the environment and damages wildlife. 1962.
Download Braille, Silent Spring, BR 11887
, Download Silent Spring, DB 20184
This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism
By Ashton Applewhite
DB 86698, BR 21743, LT 21443, Available on BARD
An activist examines the socially constructed idea of ageism. Advocates for social change and the necessary shift that needs to take place for an age-friendly world to emerge. Explores common misconceptions about age in such topics as the body and mind, sexuality, and the workplace. Some strong language. 2016.
Download Braille, This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, BR 21743
, Download This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, DB 86698
This Is An Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping The Twenty-First Century
By Mark Engler
DB 85410, Available on BARD
An examination of nonviolent protest, including core principles that guide transformative unrest. The author pays particular attention to early twenty-first century movements like Occupy Wall Street and Arab Spring, but insights are provided from historical activists as well. 2016
Download This Is An Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt is Shaping the Twenty-First Century, DB 85410
Welcome to Braggsville
By T. Geronimo Johnson
DB 81504, Available on BARD
Going away to school at liberal UC Berkeley creates culture shock for D'aron Davenport, a misfit from the small Georgia town of Braggsville. He makes new friends who learn Braggsville has an annual Civil War reenactment and decides to head there with them to stage a protest. Some strong language. 2015.
Download Welcome to Braggsville, DB 81504
What We Have Done: An Oral History of the Disability Rights Movement
By Fred Pelka
DB 74570, Available on BARD
Twentieth-century disability activists describe their political struggles for basic human rights, which led to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. They discuss landmark campaigns, including the demand for a deaf president at Gallaudet University and ADAPT's struggle for accessible public transit. 2012.
Download What We Have Done: An Oral History of the Disability Rights Movement, DB 74570
Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of your Fist
By Sunil Yapa
DB 83385, Available on BARD
A young man sets out to sell marijuana to the participants of Seattle's 1999 WTO protests. Over the course of one afternoon, seven lives--including that of Victor's estranged police-chief father, two protestors, and two police officers--are forever altered as the city descends into chaos. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2016.
Download Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of your Fist, DB 83385
Ahab’s Wife; or, The Star Gazer
By Sena Jeter Naslund
DB 48867, Available on BARD
Una recounts her life story in mid-nineteenth-century America when whaling and slavery were prevalent. She has firsthand adventures at sea disguised as a boy before her second marriage to Ahab, captain of the whaler Pequod. As a widow, she finds a new role for herself in New England. A novel inspired by Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (BR 14641, DB 34184). Bestseller. 1999.
Download Ahab's Wife, DB 48867