Current reading
Race and racism dominating bestseller lists
Real change can occur only when we are honest about the ways our behaviours and beliefs support racism ...”
Richard Reyes-Gavilan, D.C. Public Library
The bestseller lists are often a sign of the times. A few weeks ago, John M. Barry’s 2004 history The Great Influenza and 2014’s Station Eleven — Emily St. John Mandel’s post-apocalyptic novel that takes place after a flu nearly wipes out the world’s population — were climbing up the paperback bestseller list as readers tried to make sense of a global pandemic. At the top of The Washington Post’s paperback list on May 19 was Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart — a Buddhist nun’s “heart advice for difficult times.”
But readers have moved on to other pressing concerns. Now the bestselling books are mostly about race and racism.
There have been plenty of recent articles about our collective need to find escape from our chaotic reality through lighthearted books.
And yet there’s also a large contingent that is instead confronting an urgent issue head-on, snapping up such books as White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo; So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo; and The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander.
The uptick in interest clearly correlates to the widespread demonstrations that have followed the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. The D.C. Public Library says 22 people put a hold on the ebook version of Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist between May 1 and May 14. During the second half of the month, however, that rose by 364 — most of those after Floyd’s May 25 killing.
The large increase in interest for that book, as well as White Fragility and Me and White Supremacy, by Layla F. Saad, among others, prompted the library to offer unlimited access to select ebooks about race.
There is no longer a delay for readers who want to check out Why We Can’t Wait, by Martin Luther King Jr., and Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements, by Charlene Carruthers, as well as other meditations on race and racism.
“D.C. Public Library is seeking to help residents better understand racism in its less obvious but no less damaging forms,” said Richard Reyes-Gavilan, the library system’s executive director. “Real change can occur only when we are honest about the ways our behaviours and beliefs support racism in our society.”
One of the books readily available is White Fragility, published in 2018 by Beacon Press, a small non-profit in Boston. It has become the fastest-selling book in Beacon’s 166-year history. On one recent day, it sold more copies than it typically does in a month — bringing the total to 750,000 copies in all formats.
“As publishing professionals, we are proud to be part of its success,” associate director of publicity Caitlin Meyer said, “but we wish the country did not need it as much as it does right now.”
The trend has also extended to audiobooks.