History · Similar reads
Books like The Bluest Eye
The best books like The Bluest Eye are Beloved, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Americanah. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is about race and beauty standards, childhood and trauma, self-hatred and identity. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Beloved
01
Toni Morrison · Literary fiction
Beloved is set in post-Civil War Ohio, where Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman, lives with her daughter Denver in a house shadowed by the ghost of a baby she killed rather than let be taken back into slavery.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - Their Eyes Were Watching God
02
Zora Neale Hurston · Literary fiction
Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 novel follows Janie Crawford across three marriages and several decades of life in the American South, from her grandmother's home in West Florida through the all-Black town of Eatonville, Florida, to the Everglades and back.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - Americanah
03
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · Literary fiction
Americanah follows Ifemelu, a young Nigerian woman who leaves Lagos for America as a university student and spends fifteen years navigating a country that insists on categorizing her in ways Nigeria never did.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary →
- The Color Purple
04
Alice Walker · History
The Color Purple is Alice Walker's epistolary novel set in rural Georgia in the 1930s, told almost entirely through the letters of Celie, a Black woman who has survived sexual abuse, forced marriage, and the theft of her children.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - The Souls of Black Folk
05
W.E.B. Du Bois · History
The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903, is W.E.B.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
06
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Charles C. Mann · History
Charles Mann's 1491 sets out to correct a widespread misconception: that the Americas before Columbus were a mostly empty wilderness populated by small, isolated bands of hunter-gatherers living in gentle harmony with an untouched nature.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
07
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
Charles C. Mann · History
Where 1491 ends, 1493 begins.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - 1776
08
David McCullough · History
David McCullough's 1776, published in 2005, covers a single year of the American Revolution — from the winter siege of Boston through Washington's crossing of the Delaware and the surprise victory at Trenton.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - A Man on the Moon
09
Andrew Chaikin · History
A Man on the Moon is Andrew Chaikin's exhaustive narrative history of the Apollo program, from the first lunar orbit of Apollo 8 in 1968 through the final mission, Apollo 17, in 1972.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - A People's History of the United States
10
A People's History of the United States
Howard Zinn · History
Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, first published in 1980, retells American history from the perspective of those who rarely appear in conventional textbooks: Native Americans, enslaved people, industrial workers, women, immigrants, and dissidents of various kinds.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
11
Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
Peter L. Bernstein · History
Against the Gods is Peter Bernstein's intellectual history of how humanity learned to measure, quantify, and manage risk — a story he traces from ancient gambling in the Mediterranean through the development of modern probability theory, statistics, and financial derivatives.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
12
Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
Ben Macintyre · History
Eddie Chapman was a safecracker, con man, and professional criminal who became Britain's most remarkable double agent during World War II.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary →
Books like The Bluest Eye: quick answers
What are the best books like The Bluest Eye?
The best books like The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison are Beloved by Toni Morrison, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Bluest Eye, such as race and beauty standards, childhood and trauma, self-hatred and identity.
What should I read after The Bluest Eye?
A natural next read after The Bluest Eye is Beloved by Toni Morrison. A kindred history read. Other strong choices are Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
What books are similar to The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison?
The Bluest Eye centers on race and beauty standards, childhood and trauma, self-hatred and identity. Books with a similar feel include Beloved by Toni Morrison, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
