Authors: Summer 2021

Monarch Book Recommendations

Brittany K. Barnett
A Knock at Midnight: A Story Of Hope, Justice, and Freedom

Brittany K. Barnett was only a law student when she came across the case that would change her life forever that of Sharanda Jones, single mother, business owner and, like Barnett, Black daughter of the rural South. A victim of America’s devastating war on drugs, Jones had been torn away from her young daughter and was serving a life sentence without parole for a first-time drug offense. In Jones, Barnett saw haunting echoes of her own life, as the daughter of a formerly incarcerated mother. As she studied this case, a system came into focus in which widespread racial injustice forms the core of America’s addiction to incarceration.

Moved by Jones’ plight, Barnett set to work to gain her freedom.

Barnett’s riveting memoir is at once a coming-of-age story and a powerful evocation of what it takes to bring hope and justice to a system built to resist them both.

Nancy Johnson
The Kindest Lie

“The Kindest Lie” examines the heartbreaking divide between black and white communities and plumbs the emotional depths of the struggles faced by ordinary Americans in the wake of the financial crisis. Capturing the profound racial injustices and class inequalities roiling society, Nancy Johnson’s debut novel offers an unflinching view of motherhood in contemporary America and the never-ending quest to achieve the American Dream.

Tamika D. Mallory
State of Emergency: How We Win in the Country We Built

Tamika D. Mallory is a trailblazing social justice leader, movement strategist, globally recognized civil rights activist and cofounder of Until Freedom and the historic Women’s March on Washington. She served as the youngest ever Executive Director of the National Action Network. Mallory is an expert in the areas of gun violence prevention, criminal justice reform and grassroots organizing.

The first book from Charlamagne Tha God’s new imprint, Black Privilege Publishing. Charlamagne, one of the most influential voices in media today, shared in the book’s announcement that “Tamika is one of those people who’s ALWAYS on the frontlines fighting for us — not for self-serving reasons, but because she cares about Black People.”

Charles M Blow
The Devil You Know: a Black Power Manifesto

Journalist Charles M. Blow felt compelled to write a new story for Black Americans.
Drawing on history, political observations and Blow’s personal experience as a Black son of the South, “The Devil You Know” proposes nothing short of the most audacious power play by Black people in the history of this country, as well as a road map to equality.

Robert Jones Jr.
The Prophets

“The Prophets,” a novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other and a betrayal that threatens their existence.
With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr. fiercely summons the voices of slaver and the enslaved alike to tell the story of these two men. Jones masterfully reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.