We published many wonderful books this year that challenge the narrative of history, confront inequities in our society, that champion racial justice, and that provide a vision for a better tomorrow. As 2020 draws to a close we’re thrilled to celebrate a few that resonated with readers and critics to be featured on end of year "Best of" and Notable Book lists.

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What does it mean to resist? What tools do ordinary people have to counteract injustice, when the system is so much bigger and more powerful than we are? What is the potential and what are the limits of the strategies we’ve historically deployed? And what can we learn from successful—and unsuccessful—resistance movements across the world? These provocative texts explore these questions and more, helping light the way in turbulent times.

Education is where capitalism, racism, and policing intersect, resulting in what we know as the “school to prison pipeline.” These groundbreaking books investigate how privatization and reliance on testing have eroded our free public school system and reduced students to commodities; how racism encourages schools to view its young Black and Brown charges as inherently criminal, adult, and violent; and how policing has replaced care and guidance in schools.

The visibility of the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality has drawn attention to a deeper conversation. If racism is embedded in our criminal justice system so deeply, in which other aspects of our society does it manifest? How did our country come to be structured along these lines? In these essential texts, people of color write about their struggles for liberation and a world where we are all truly free.