The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong In the struggling town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai is saved from despair by Grazina, an elderly widow with dementia, forging an unexpected bond that reshapes their lives and reveals dynamics of love, memory, and resilience on the margins of society. The Social Justice Book Club meets on the first Sunday of the month at noon. We meet in … Continue reading Social Justice Book Read January 4, 2026

Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine: Reform, White Supremacy, and an Abolitionist Future by Emile DeWeaver Despite reform efforts that have grown in scope and intensity over the last two decades, the machine of American mass incarceration continues to flourish. In this powerful polemic, formerly incarcerated activist, essayist, and organizer Emile Suotonye DeWeaver argues that … Continue reading Social Justice Book Read December 7, 2025

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Abundance is a once-in-a-generation, paradigm-shifting call to renew a politics of plenty, face up to the failures of liberal governance, and abandon the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life. The Social Justice Book Club meets on the first Sunday of the month at noon. We meet in person … Continue reading Social Justice Book Read October 5, 2025

The Ministry For the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson From legendary science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson comes a vision of climate change unlike any ever imagined. Told entirely through fictional eye-witness accounts, The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, the story of how climate change will affect us all over the decades … Continue reading Social Justice Book Read September 7, 2025

Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship by Gregory Boyle In a moving example of unconditional love in dif­ficult times, the Jesuit priest and bestselling author of TATTOOS ON THE HEART, Gregory Boyle, shares what three decades of working with gang members in Los Angeles has taught him about faith, compassion, and the enduring … Continue reading Social Justice Book Club Read August 3, 2025