18 books like Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

What to read after Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Let The Circle be Unbroken Mildred D. Taylor · 1981 · ★ 4.5 · 394p · ≈ 13h · Moderate Let the Circle Be Unbroken is a story of a small Mississippi town in the 1930s, and the troubles that plague its black community. Picking up where its precursor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, leaves off, Mildred Taylor recounts the trials of this small community through the characters of the Logan family. More specifically, it focuses on the children of the family; Stacey, Cassie, Little Man and… Shares: Depressions, Prejudices, Race Relations, African Americans

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Horace McCoy · 1935 · ★ 3.8 · 319p · ≈ 10h · Challenging "The depression of the 1930s led people to desperate measures to survive. The Marathon Dance Craze, which flourished at that time, seemed a simple way for people to earn extra money--dancing the hours away for cash. But, the underside of that Craze was filled with a competition and violence unknown to most ballrooms. [author's] classic American story captures that dark side in this powerful… Shares: Depressions, Classics

Soul on ice Eldridge Cleaver · 1863 · ★ 4.0 · 210p · ≈ 7h · Challenging A collection of essays and open letters written while a prisoner at California's Folsom State prison. Shares: Blacks, African Americans

Peau Noire, Masques Blancs Frantz Fanon · 1952 · ★ 4.3 · 192p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Fanon, born in Martinique and educated in France, is generally regarded as the leading anti-colonial thinker of the 20th century. His first book is an analysis of the impact of colonial subjugation on the black psyche. It is a very personal account of Fanon's experience being black: as a man, an intellectual, and a party to a French education.--Adapted from wikipedia.org. Shares: Blacks, Race Relations

Roots Alex Haley · 1861 · ★ 4.4 · 476p · ≈ 15h · Challenging Roots is a novel written by Alex Haley and published in 1976. It portrays the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent and sold into slavery in the United States, and follows his life and the lives of his alleged descendants in the U.S. down to Haley. The release of the novel, combined with its hugely popular television adaptation, Roots (1977), led to a cultural… Shares: Blacks, African Americans, History

The Four Winds Kristin Hannah · 2021 · ★ 4.3 · 536p · ≈ 17h · Moderate Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is… Shares: Depressions, History

Native Son Richard Wright · 1940 · ★ 4.1 · 420p · ≈ 14h · Challenging Native Son (1940) is a novel written by the American author Richard Wright. It tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s. ---------- Also contained in: Early Works Shares: Blacks, African Americans, Classics

The Kitchen House Kathleen Grissom · 2010 · ★ 4.5 · 384p · ≈ 12h · Moderate "Oprhaned aboard a ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and worth with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from the by her white skin. Eventually accepted into the world of the big house, where… Shares: Southern states, History

Meridian Alice Walker · 1976 · ★ 3.8 · 228p · ≈ 7h · Moderate Set in the 1960s and 1970s, Meridian centers on Meridian Hill, a student at the fictitious Saxon College, who becomes active in the Civil Rights Movement. She becomes romantically involved with another activist, Truman Held. They have a turbulent on-and-off relationship, during which she becomes pregnant by him. After Meridian has an abortion, Truman becomes far more attached to her and longs… Shares: Southern states, African Americans

The house behind the cedars Charles Waddell Chesnutt · 1900 · 194p · ≈ 6h · Challenging "The House Behind the Cedars tells of John and Lena Walden, mulatto siblings who pass for white in the postbellum American South. The drama that unfolds as they travel between black and white worlds constitutes a riveting portrait of the shifting and intractable nature of race in American life. This edition revitalizes a much-neglected masterpiece by one of our most important African-American… Shares: Southern states, African Americans, History

Invisible Man Ralph Ellison · 1952 · ★ 3.9 · 450p · ≈ 15h · Moderate Invisible Man is the story of a young black man from the South who does not fully understand racism in the world. Filled with hope about his future, he goes to college, but gets expelled for showing one of the white benefactors the real and seamy side of black existence. He moves to Harlem and becomes an orator for the Communist party, known as the Brotherhood. In his position, he is both… Shares: Race Relations, African Americans, Classics

Giovanni's Room James Baldwin · 1956 · ★ 4.3 · 185p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Considered an 'audacious' second novel, GIOVANNI'S ROOM is set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence. This now-classic story of a fated love triangle explores, with uncompromising clarity, the conflicts between desire, conventional morality and sexual identity. Shares: Race Relations, African Americans, Classics

East of Eden John Steinbeck, David Wyatt & Susan Shillinglaw Set in the rich farmland of the Salinas Valley, California, this powerful, often brutal novel, follows the interwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations hopelessly re-enact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Here Steinbeck created some of his most memorable characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of… Shares: Classics

Lord of the Flies William Golding, Lois Lowry & Jennifer Buehler Lord of the Flies is the 1954 debut novel of British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of prepubescent British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves that lead to a descent into savagery. The novels themes include morality, leadership, and the tension between civility and chaos. Shares: Classics

The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas · 1964 · ★ 4.5 · 242p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to use the treasure to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Shares: Classics

The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov · 141p · ≈ 4h · Moderate The Master and Margarita () is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940. A censored version, with several chapters cut by editors, was published posthumously in Moscow magazine in 1966–1967 by his widow Elena Bulgakova. The manuscript was first published as a book in 1967, in Paris, France. A samizdat version circulated that included parts cut out by official… Shares: Classics

Les Misérables Christine Donougher & Victor Hugo Les Misérables (, ) is a French epic historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous adaptations for film, television, and the stage, including a musical. Shares: Classics

The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin & Charlie Jane Anders The Left Hand of Darkness is a science fiction novel by the American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Published in 1969, its popularity established Le Guins status as a major author of science fiction. The novel is set in the fictional universe of the Hainish Cycle, a series of novels and short stories by Le Guin, which she introduced in the 1964 short story "The Dowry of Angyar". It was fourth in… Shares: Classics

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