Books like The Help

01

Beloved

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 contemporary fiction read.

02

The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother

James McBride · Memoir

James McBride grew up in Brooklyn and Queens as one of twelve children raised by a white Jewish woman who had converted to Christianity and married a Black minister.

A kindred contemporary fiction read.

03

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

Azar Nafisi · Memoir

Azar Nafisi spent years teaching literature at universities in Tehran before the restrictions on what she could teach — and who she could teach — became intolerable.

A kindred contemporary fiction read.

04

The Things They Carried

Tim O'Brien · Memoir

Tim O'Brien served as a foot soldier in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970.

A kindred contemporary fiction read.

05

Little Fires Everywhere

Celeste Ng · Contemporary fiction

In Shaker Heights, Ohio — a meticulously planned, deliberately integrated suburb — two families collide.

A kindred contemporary fiction read.

06

A Man on the Moon

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.

Both dig into courage.

07

Dare to Lead

Brené Brown · Business

Dare to Lead is Brené Brown's application of her research on vulnerability and courage to the specific context of leadership.

Both dig into courage.

08

Daring Greatly

Brené Brown · Health

Daring Greatly is Brené Brown's argument, drawn from twelve years of qualitative research on shame and vulnerability, that the willingness to show up without guarantees — to be seen, to risk failure, to remain open in the presence of uncertainty — is not weakness but the foundation of courage, connection, and meaningful achievement.

Both dig into courage.

09

Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission

Hampton Sides · History

Ghost Soldiers tells the story of the January 1945 raid on the Cabanatuan prisoner-of-war camp in the Philippines — a mission to rescue 513 American and Allied prisoners, survivors of the Bataan Death March, before the retreating Japanese army could execute them.

Both dig into courage.

10

I Am Malala

Malala Yousafzai · Memoir

I Am Malala is the memoir of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist who was shot by the Taliban on her school bus in October 2012 at age fifteen, and who survived to become the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Both dig into courage.

11

Leviathan Wakes

James S.A. Corey · Science fiction

Two hundred years from now, humanity has colonized Mars and the asteroid belt, and the political fault lines between Earth, Mars, and the Belters — the third-generation descendants of asteroid miners — are the dominant tension in the solar system.

Both dig into class and power.

12

Playing Big

Tara Mohr · Self-help

Playing Big is Tara Mohr's guide to the internal barriers that prevent women — and many men — from contributing at the level they're capable of.

Both dig into courage.