Opinions is a collection of Roxane Gay’s best nonfiction pieces from the past ten years. Covering a wide range of topics—politics, feminism, the culture wars, civil rights, and much more—with an all-new introduction in which she reflects on the past decade in America, this sharp, thought-provoking anthology will delight Roxane Gay’s devotees and draw new readers to this inimitable talent.

As many Christians take a reactionary and antidemocratic stance, Gushee tackles the tough questions in this timely work of political ethics. Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies advocates for sane, ethical, and compassionate politics in a world where many Christians are instigating discord and vying for power. Any concerned Christian will leave its pages with eyes clear to the dangers of our current form of political engagement and with insight into what democracy is truly meant to be.

From a highly lauded modern voice in feminism and racial justice comes a deeply personal and insightful approach to the power of reimagining to dismantle the frameworks and systems that no longer serve us while building liberating new ones.

Abraham Verghese, MD, MACP, is Professor and Linda R. Meier and Joan F. Lane Provostial Professor, and Vice Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the School of Medicine at Stanford University. He is also a best-selling author and a physician with a reputation for his focus on healing in an era where technology often overwhelms the human side of medicine. The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Verghese, the author of Cutting for Stone (published in 2009) that became a literary phenomenon, selling over 1.5 million copies in the United States and remaining on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah – author of The New York Times bestselling debut Friday Black – is back with an action-packed, visionary, and wholly unique new novel. Chain Gang All Stars centers on two top women gladiators fighting for their freedom within a depraved private prison system (not so far-removed from America’s own).

Tayari Jones – A New York Times best-selling author of four novels, most recently An American Marriage published in 2018.

An award-winning journalist tells the story of his quest to reconcile with his white mother and the family he’d never met—and how faith brought them all together. Blake covered some of the biggest stories about race in America for twenty-five years before realizing that “facts don’t change people, relationships do.” He only discovered that after experiencing what he calls “radical integration.” It was the only way forward for him and his family—and it’s the only way forward for America as a multiracial democracy. More Than I Imagined is a hopeful story for our difficult times.

Buried Truths focuses on civil rights cold cases in Georgia and how they can enlighten our understanding of today’s society, particularly on matters of race. This season focuses on the murder of a young black man by police in 1958 in Dawson, Georgia. The reason for his murder? They did not like that he was driving a nicer car than they did. This crime is used to illustrate the plight of the Black citizens of Terrell County under a reign of terror conducted by the police and sheriff.  

New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson writes page-turning suspense novels that revolve around timely women’s issues, raising questions about justice, motherhood, career, class, and the thorny mechanics of redemption. She previously penned eight works of Southern fiction, all of which have a murder mystery or thriller lurking inside the family drama.

The “Lost Boys of Sudan” caught the attention of the country and especially of Georgia when they arrived in Atlanta in 2000 and 2001. By the tens of thousands, barefoot boys as young as seven fled soldiers wanting to kill or capture them, walking across three countries as they sought safety and food in the midst of the Sudanese Civil War of the 1980s. Around 150 of a total group of 3,400 arrived to live in Clarkston in 2000 and 2001, part of a US effort to provide education and skills for the then young men as South Sudan became a country.

Three of those young men have written memoirs about their experiences in southern Sudan and how the past 20 years have changed their lives. Now serving as an Anglican bishop, as a CDC health official focusing on health services in East Africa, and as a leader of a non-profit to build water wells in South Sudan villages, they will gather to discuss the challenges they faced and how they have grown from “lost boys” to accomplished men giving back to their country and region.

by Kaitlin Curtice

By John Boyne

BY JAMES FORMAN, JR.

by Brian McLaren

by Paul Wallace

On Sundays. 10 a.m., April 24 through May 22, 2016