% indicates books on justice reform 1947 Where Now Begins by Elisabeth Asbrink, Fiona Graham In a little over a year after the end of WWII, the seeds for all of today's conflicts and much of today's culture were laid. An excellent book for the advanced teen reader with an interest in history and world events. ARage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to Isis by Robert F. Worth An excellent first-hand reporting of the Arab Spring, from the early days in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011 through the tragic aftermath, particularly in Syria, through 2015. What happened and why. For teens interested in world affairs. %American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer Bauer, a reporter for Mother Earth News and a survivor of a stint in an Iranian prison, goes undercover in a for-profit prison in Louisiana as a nine-dollar-an-hour prison guard. He intersperses that story with vignettes of the history of incarceration in America. An excellent book for mature teens interested in American history and social justice. America's Great Game: The CIA'S Secret Arabists and the Shaping of the Modern Middle East by Hugh Wilford How America got involved in the politics of the Middle East (1940s-1960s): this clear, in-depth accounting will be of interest to advanced teen readers with a particular interest in foreign affairs. Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos Osnos, staff writer for The New Yorker, lived in China from 2008 to 2013. With humor, detail, and keen observation, he brings to light for our eyes life in modern China. This book would interest older teens with an interest in sociology and travel. Asia's Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific by Robert D. Kaplan In this fascinating account, Kaplan explains the central issue in the second decade of the 21st century in the South China Sea: the military rise of China and the strengthening nationhood of smaller neighbors, all bordering a globally-critical sea trade route. Older teens with a global interest will like this book. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates This elegant and timely memoir of a black child born out of the sixties, recounts racial history in America alongside the trajectory of his own childhood in the post Civil Rights era. All teens with an interest in history and culture would like this book. Beyond the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo Boo tells the true story of families living on the margins in a Mumbai slum as if she was telling a fictional story. Appropriate for teens of all ages--it is a complete immersion into a different culture, a different life. %Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy Prisoners stage a revolt against inhumane treatment; the reprisal and aftermath are even more inhumane. For advanced teen readers interested in social policy. China 1945: Mao's Revolution and America's Fateful Choice by Richard Bernstein Diplomacy is the other option from war and good intentions are not enough. This wonderfully well-written and well-researched book tells the story of how America failed to get it right on the cusp of the Chinese Revolution and serves as a good study for today's foreign conflicts. Excellent for experienced teen readers with an interest in history and foreign service. Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King This extremely accessible and well-written narrative tells the story of how talent, hard work, courage, and dedication brought about significant social change in a democratic society. For teens of all ages. Excellent Daughters: The Secret Lives of the Young Women Who Are Transforming the Arab World by Katherine Zoepf For teens interested in travel and the wider world, there is no better book than this one for getting to know what life is like for girls in a variety of Arab countries. For mid to older teens. %Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson A memoir of the young lawyer who has dedicated his life to bringing justice to the innocent, the underage, and the mentally ill who have been wrongfully convicted and/or brutally treated in our nation's "justice system" will appeal to all teens who want to better understand the wider world. Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israelby Dan Ephron Kudos to Dan Ephron for giving us this concise account of the complexities of Israel that resulted in the one and only assassination of a Prime Minister and by one of their own. For all teens interested in international affairs and politics. Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham A riveting story well-told of the science, the history, and the political dynamic that spawned the world's largest man-made disaster, this book will appeal to well-read, mature teens with an interest in science, politics, and human nature. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder A specialist in infectious disease, Dr. Farmer has a goal to reverse the inaccessibility to medicine of the world's poor. From Haiti to Peru to Cuba to Russia, each challenge is a mountain, and behind each mountain is another mountain. This is an uplifting, inspiring book and would be of interest to older teen readers who are interested in medicine and/or humanitarian service. My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit Born in Israel, living in Israel, and willing to die for Israel, center-left journalist Ari Shavit has written an immensely illuminating and personal account of the history of the State of Israel. Mature teen readers with an interest in international politics will enjoy this book. Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel by Tom Wainwright By telling the story of the western hemisphere drug trade through the lens of an economist, Wainwright both makes the subject of economics fascinating and makes the operation and potential dismantling of this devastatingly destructive business clear. Will interest older teen readers. No Good Men Among the Living: America, The Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal Gopal moved to Afghanistan in 2008 and spent four years looking at America's longest war through the eyes of the Afghans.. His story is clear, well-written and a fine example of the value of excellent journalism. This would be a good book for a mature teen with an interest in foreign service. However, it is a harsh and heartbreaking story: teens who already have a sense of world realities will handle it best. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954 to 1963by Taylor Branch This Pulitzer Prize-winning account of America's Civil Rights Movement is jaw-dropping and humbling. Advanced teen readers with an interest in American history will enjoy this book. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story createdby Nikole Hannah-Jones A series of essays on both the history of Black Americans in the United States and on how that history effects every aspect of our governing and social institutions, this book will be appreciated by any advanced teen reader with an appetite for knowledge of their wider world. The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War by Stephen Kinzer This is a joint biography of two brothers, the first a secretary of state, the latter a director of the CIA who, during the 1950s, shaped and drove US foreign policy during that decade and arguably shaped world opinion of the US for ensuing decades. Mature teen readers who have an interest in US history and political science will find this book interesting. The Devil's Highway: A True Storyby Luis Alberto Urrea In 2001, 26 men crossed the border from Mexico into the United States and attempted to cross a portion of the Arizona desert known as The Devil's Highway. Only 12 made it across. Urrea reconstructs in biting detail the ordeal those men underwent, battling hypothermia, crushing heat, thirst, rattlesnakes, and vigilantes. For all teens. %The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore Two father-less African-American boys grow up in the same neighborhood. As one sits in South Africa on a semester abroad from John Hopkins University and in anticipation of attending Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship in the fall, the other one is being sought by the police for armed robbery. What happened? Moore tells the what and lets the reader fill in the why. Obviously good for any teen struggling to move in a better direction. Also good for any teen interested in the social sciences (i.e. people). The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar The author's father crosses the dictator Qaddafi's regime in Libya and moves his family to Egypt for safety. When Hisham is nineteen and in school in England, his father is kidnapped and disappears into Qaddafi's prison. Twenty two years later after the fall of Qaddafi, he returns. Excellent for a modern history of Libya. For mature teens interested in international events. The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, by Ben Macintyre An excellent portrayal of the world of international espionage, this book will appeal to the well-read, older teen with an interest in international affairs. %The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League, byJeff Hobbs This is a finely written account of one brilliant and generous young man's ultimately unsuccessful struggle to leave his confining and perilous beginnings. It is also an illuminating account on the precarious role of college in the transition from the dreams of youth to the reality of adult life. This is a great book for teens, particularly for those with aspirations that include a passage through college. The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel A young man parks his car, grabs his backpack, and disappears into the Maine woods for twenty-seven years. This is his story in brief and the history of solitude in general. This thought-provoking book would interest deep-thinking teens and those whose life experiences may include the path less traveled by. The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam by Eliza Griswold The tenth parallel is the line of latitude seven miles north of the equator in Africa and Asia where more than half the world's Muslims and 60 percent of the world's Christians reside. Ms. Griswold did on-the-ground research and presents a detailed view of some of the hottest conflicts on the globe today as she shines a light on the most pressing global concerns of our time. For advanced teen readers interested in foreign affairs. Thirteen Days in September by Lawrence Wright In September 1978, the leaders of Egypt, Israel, and the United States spent thirteen days in Camp David trying to work out a peace agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors. As in his other books of interest to teens, The Looming Tower and Going Clear, Wright makes a complex history clear and fascinating. Nearly forty years later, peace is still elusive in this conflict, and will be a central issue for novice world citizens in the years to come. For advanced teen readers with an interest in history, politics, and diplomacy. We were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates A deeply probing memoir/commentary on Obama's eight years as president, its effect on this writer, and its place within the United States' long and troubled racial conflict. For advanced teen readers with an interest in history and social conflict. %When They Call You a Terrorist, a Black Lives Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele A founder of the Black Lives Matter movement makes an impassioned case for its mission with a recounting of her own life. Moving and fascinating, this book will be appreciated by any teen who values justice or understands the lack thereof. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers Zeitoun, a prospering Syrian-American businessman, stays in New Orleans to protect his properties as Hurricane Katrina approaches. In the aftermath, he finds purpose in rowing his canoe around the flooded neighborhood on rescue missions. However, a perfect storm of cultural stereotyping, institutional malfunction, and a steep decline in common sense humanity conspire to put him through three weeks of hell. This is a powerful book about human failings and human strengths, appropriate for all confident teen readers who know how to give a book time to take off.