Fans pick 100 books like Awearness

By Kenneth Cole,

Here are 100 books that Awearness fans have personally recommended if you like Awearness. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century

Kat Calvin Author Of American Identity in Crisis: Notes from an Accidental Activist

From my list on how to change the world.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an activist and always have been. My organizations, Spread The Vote + Project ID and Project ID Action Fund work on the ground and on impactful policy nationwide. I would never have been able to build a movement or an organization that makes a real impact without the lessons that I have learned from the past. Every book I have read about how change was made before me has helped me do the work I do and my hope is that future leaders will learn these lessons too.

Kat's book list on how to change the world

Kat Calvin Why did Kat love this book?

Movements require strategy, planning, and patience. This book offers case studies of some of the best-known movements of the modern age and shows how none of them happened by accident.

This book is a must read for anyone who wants to make real change.

By Mark Stengler, Paul Engler,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked This Is an Uprising as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

There is a craft to uprising,and this craft can change the worldFrom protests around climate change and immigrant rights, to Occupy, the Arab Spring, and #BlackLivesMatter, a new generation is unleashing strategic nonviolent action to shape public debate and force political change. When mass movements erupt onto our television screens, the media consistently portrays them as being spontaneous and unpredictable. Yet, in this book, Mark and Paul Engler look at the hidden art behind such outbursts of protest, examining core principles that have been used to spark and guide moments of transformative unrest.With incisive insights from contemporary activists, as well…


Book cover of The Ralph Nader Reader

Kat Calvin Author Of American Identity in Crisis: Notes from an Accidental Activist

From my list on how to change the world.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an activist and always have been. My organizations, Spread The Vote + Project ID and Project ID Action Fund work on the ground and on impactful policy nationwide. I would never have been able to build a movement or an organization that makes a real impact without the lessons that I have learned from the past. Every book I have read about how change was made before me has helped me do the work I do and my hope is that future leaders will learn these lessons too.

Kat's book list on how to change the world

Kat Calvin Why did Kat love this book?

Few people have made the types of significant legislative changes that have improved the lives of Americans as Ralph Nader has.

Every time we put on a seatbelt or are saved by an airbag, we have him to thank. The Nader reader has some of Ralph’s best writings, including many about how Americans should be involved in their government to make sure that our Democracy keeps working.

By Ralph Nader,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Ralph Nader Reader as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Four generations of Americans have come to associate Ralph Nader with the political issues that have defined our age, be it car safety in the 1960s or the anti-WTO demonstrations that recently shut down Seattle. His work has successfully shaped the Left, increased government accountability, made possible new laws, and served as a powerful check against abuses of corporate power. In this landmark collection, the essays that reveal the intellectual, social, and political underpinnings of this legendary citizen advocate are brought together for the first time.
In The Ralph Nader Reader, we follow the trajectory of Nader's concerns from 1956…


Book cover of The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America

Kat Calvin Author Of American Identity in Crisis: Notes from an Accidental Activist

From my list on how to change the world.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an activist and always have been. My organizations, Spread The Vote + Project ID and Project ID Action Fund work on the ground and on impactful policy nationwide. I would never have been able to build a movement or an organization that makes a real impact without the lessons that I have learned from the past. Every book I have read about how change was made before me has helped me do the work I do and my hope is that future leaders will learn these lessons too.

Kat's book list on how to change the world

Kat Calvin Why did Kat love this book?

Progress is never a straight line; it usually takes the form of two steps forward and one step back. As we continue to fight battles we thought we’d won, this account of the long and unsteady march toward civil rights can give us direction, inspiration, and hope.

By Philip A. Klinkner, Rogers M. Smith,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Unsteady March as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

American life is filled with talk of progress and equality, especially when the issue is that of race. But has the history of race in America really been the continuous march toward equality we'd like to imagine it has? This sweeping history of race in America argues quite the opposite; that progress toward equality has been sporadic, isolated, and surrounded by long periods of stagnation and retrenchment.


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Book cover of Free Your Joy: The Twelve Keys to Sustainable Happiness

Free Your Joy By Lisa McCourt,

We all want peace. We all want a life of joy and meaning. We want to feel blissfully comfortable in our own skin, moving through the world with grace and ease. But how many of us are actively taking the steps to create such a life? 

In Free Your Joy…

Book cover of Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World (without a Bullhorn)

Kat Calvin Author Of American Identity in Crisis: Notes from an Accidental Activist

From my list on how to change the world.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an activist and always have been. My organizations, Spread The Vote + Project ID and Project ID Action Fund work on the ground and on impactful policy nationwide. I would never have been able to build a movement or an organization that makes a real impact without the lessons that I have learned from the past. Every book I have read about how change was made before me has helped me do the work I do and my hope is that future leaders will learn these lessons too.

Kat's book list on how to change the world

Kat Calvin Why did Kat love this book?

Real change happens one person and one act at a time. Micro Activism teaches you how to make a difference wherever you are and whatever your circumstances.

This beautifully illustrated, friendly, and readable book is the perfect way to learn how to get started as an activist and how to build activism into your life every day.

By Omkari L. Williams,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Micro Activism as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this age of social justice, those who don't necessarily want to lead a movement or join a protest march are left wondering, "How can I make an impact?"

In Micro Activism, former political consultant turned activism coach Omkari Williams shares her expertise in empowering introverts and highly sensitive people to help each of us, no matter our temperament, find our most satisfying and effective activist role. Using Williams's Activist Archetype tool, readers discover their unique strengths and use this to develop a personal strategy. To ensure sustainable involvement, Williams encourages starting small, working collaboratively, and beginning locally.

Advice on…


Book cover of Gaby, Lost and Found

Hilda Eunice Burgos Author Of Miosotis Flores Never Forgets

From my list on sensitive topics.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always loved realistic fiction that shows characters navigating tricky real-world situations and reaching inside themselves to be their best – as friends, children, siblings, etc. As a writer of stories for children, I write the kinds of books I love to read, the ones that make readers ask themselves, what would I do if I were in that situation?  I think it’s important to show all our stories, past and present, from different places and viewpoints, so that we can learn from one another and become our best selves.

Hilda's book list on sensitive topics

Hilda Eunice Burgos Why did Hilda love this book?

I was moved by this book about an eleven-year-old girl whose mother has been deported. Gaby is kind and genuine, and her friends are great too. She wants nothing more than to get her mother back and to save an abandoned cat from the shelter where she volunteers. I love how real her feelings and her actions are, and how she grows in the story. And, of course, reading about all the cute dogs and cats at the shelter made me feel warm and fuzzy!

By Angela Cervantes,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Gaby, Lost and Found as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Gaby comes to the WISH line! Wanted: One amazing forever home for one amazing sixth grader.

"My name is Gaby, and I'm looking for a home. Having the nicest clothes or cell phone isn't important, but I'd like to have a cat that I can talk to when I'm home alone." When Gaby Ramirez Howard starts volunteering at the local animal shelter, she takes special pride in writing adoption advertisements. Her flyers help the cats and dogs there find their forever homes: places where they'll be loved and cared for, no matter what. Gaby is in need of a forever…


Book cover of How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas

Claire Bennett Author Of Learning Service: The Essential Guide to Volunteering Abroad

From my list on international volunteering.

Why am I passionate about this?

I first volunteered overseas as a teenager. Driven by an insatiable desire to change the world, I helped to found a rural development organisation, PHASE, but found myself confronted with and paralysed by the complexities of the aid world. So as not to become jaded, I since shifted my focus to tackle what I believe to be the root causes of injustice in the world through global education, including researching and writing Learning Service: The Essential Guide to Volunteering Abroad. I now mainly work as a consultant to improve the ethical practices of volunteer organisations.

Claire's book list on international volunteering

Claire Bennett Why did Claire love this book?

A comprehensive guide for potential volunteers wishing to make the world a better place. It includes first-hand stories, worksheets, and evaluative information about hundreds of volunteer organisations.

Written by veteran volunteers who are all founders of respected organizations, the book covers the whole process of volunteering, from how to decide if international volunteering is right for you, to choosing the right program, to what to do before and after you go abroad. It also covers the vital political and social contexts of people from the US volunteering abroad, and how to be aware of these factors to ensure you volunteer effectively.

By Joseph Collins, Stefano DeZerega, Zahara Heckscher

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A comprehensive guide for Americans who want to volunteer overseas provides case studies, worksheets, and helpful advice designed to help readers find the right program in various regions around the world, as well as a listing of more than one hundred volunteer organizations, financial guidelines, and tips on how to become an effective volunteer. Original.


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Book cover of Traumatization and Its Aftermath: A Systemic Approach to Understanding and Treating Trauma Disorders

Traumatization and Its Aftermath By Antonieta Contreras,

A fresh take on the difference between trauma and hardship in order to help accurately spot the difference and avoid over-generalizations.

The book integrates the latest findings in brain science, child development, psycho-social context, theory, and clinical experiences to make the case that trauma is much more than a cluster…

Book cover of Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World

Claire Bennett Author Of Learning Service: The Essential Guide to Volunteering Abroad

From my list on international volunteering.

Why am I passionate about this?

I first volunteered overseas as a teenager. Driven by an insatiable desire to change the world, I helped to found a rural development organisation, PHASE, but found myself confronted with and paralysed by the complexities of the aid world. So as not to become jaded, I since shifted my focus to tackle what I believe to be the root causes of injustice in the world through global education, including researching and writing Learning Service: The Essential Guide to Volunteering Abroad. I now mainly work as a consultant to improve the ethical practices of volunteer organisations.

Claire's book list on international volunteering

Claire Bennett Why did Claire love this book?

This book is written for the millions of well-intentioned travellers and volunteers who travel to low-income countries to learn about and “help” people and cultures different from their own. Taranath unflinchingly confronts the awkward feelings of guilt, shame, and excess privilege that inevitably arise from international (and even inter-neighbourhood) travel. In their place, she offers a more nuanced look at how we fit in the intersectional jigsaw puzzle of global inequity, and how we can work to transform these feelings into the capacity to work towards justice. 

Beyond Guilt Trips is an essential companion to all those leading, engaging in, or contemplating travel, to ensure they embark on an inwards journey that mirrors the outward one.

By Anu Taranath,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Beyond Guilt Trips as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Washington State Book Award Finalist in Nonfiction Oprah Magazine's "26 Best Travel Books of All Times" Fodors' Travel "Best Books to Bring on Vacation" Winner of Newsweek's Future of Travel Awards in Storytelling Wishing Shelf Book Award Finalist Foreward Indies Book Award Finalist Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist Global Shakers "40 Leaders in Sustainable Tourism"Every year, hundreds of thousands of young people pack their bags to study or volunteer abroad. Well-intentioned and curious Westerners--brought up to believe that international travel broadens our horizons--travel to low-income countries to learn about people and cultures different from their own. While travel abroad…


Book cover of White Lies

Kern Carter Author Of And Then There Was Us

From my list on family drama, sacrifice, and how beautifully messy a family can be.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in a large family that initially didn’t include my mother or father. My mother made the sacrifice of leaving our island of Trinidad to make a home for us in Canada. She was separated from us for years while my grandparents raised me and my brothers. I think that type of upbringing triggered my curiosity about what a family can be. When I became a father at 18, the question of what kind of family I would build became the central theme of my life. It still is today, which is why stories that revolve around family are so captivating for me. 

Kern's book list on family drama, sacrifice, and how beautifully messy a family can be

Kern Carter Why did Kern love this book?

Talk about teenage angst. This YA novel is like living inside the mind of an anxiety-driven, introverted teenager who constantly finds herself in precarious positions.

I loved the honesty of this book the most. I got so frustrated with the main character because she kept making decisions that I’ve seen people in real life make. I wanted to scream at her so many times throughout the novel, and several times, I put the book down and shook my head in frustration. That’s when you know the novel is a winner. 

By Sara de Waard,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked White Lies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

Missy’s sweet sixteenth is just around the corner, but her last three birthdays haven’t exactly been cause for celebration. Her beloved little brother died when she turned thirteen and now birthdays are just painful reminders of the void in their lives. If only she had walked him to school that morning, like she was supposed to ...

To add fuel to the fire, Missy’s mom was arrested just before she could blow out the candles on her fifteenth birthday.

To escape her guilt and her father’s alcohol-induced rages, Missy volunteers at a nearby store where she busies herself to shut…


Book cover of The Sowing Season

Linda MacKillop Author Of The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon

From my list on protagonists in intergenerational relationships.

Why am I passionate about this?

Because of the presence of my four beloved grandparents throughout my growing up years, (all four of my grandparents even attended my wedding), I’ve always enjoyed relationships with older people. My comfort with older people translates into my friendships where many of the women in my life are quite a bit older than me. These intergenerational relationships offer wisdom and experience that informs my own life. I hold an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and have written one novel for adults and one for middle-grade readers. My past jobs include being a television engineer, an adjunct professor, and a publishing professional.

Linda's book list on protagonists in intergenerational relationships

Linda MacKillop Why did Linda love this book?

I love any book featuring an older protagonist in need of some good community and a few younger people. After being forced to sell the dairy farm he had poured his heart into, Gerrit Laninga stumbles into wide-open days and an empty schedule that leaves him adrift and purposeless. He’s even lost touch with his family during his long days farming and now experiences their resentment toward him. When a few needy kids stumble across his path, we see the power of how unconditional friendships influence us all. And it helps that the intergenerational misunderstandings insert humor into the story.

By Katie Powner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Sowing Season as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

After he's forced to sell the family farm he's labored on his whole life, 63-year-old Gerrit Laninga doesn't know what to do with himself. He sacrificed everything for the land--his time, his health, his family--with nothing to show for it but bitterness, regret, and two grown children who want nothing to do with him.

Fifteen-year-old Rae Walters has growing doubts and fears about The Plan--the detailed blueprint for high school that will help her follow in her lawyer father's footsteps. She's always been committed to The Plan, but now that the pressure to succeed is building, what was supposed to…


Book cover of Sisters of the Great War

Connie Hertzberg Mayo Author Of The Sharp Edge of Mercy

From my list on historical fiction with rockstar nurses.

Why am I passionate about this?

My mother went back to school for her PhD in Anatomy when I was a pre-teen. During the summers of my high school years I worked with her in her lab, and let me tell you, you see your mother in a new light when you see her dissect a rat. Though I didn’t go into medicine, anyone raised in our household learned an impressive amount of biology just sitting around the dinner table. Consequently, I’ve always loved fiction with a medical bent. My mother was also the one to introduce me to historical fiction, so perhaps I was fated to write a historical novel with a nurse protagonist.

Connie's book list on historical fiction with rockstar nurses

Connie Hertzberg Mayo Why did Connie love this book?

Two sisters from Baltimore volunteer for WWI, one as a nurse, one as an ambulance driver. Though this isn’t a romance, each find love amid the gruesome reality of war – one with a doctor, one with another (female) ambulance driver. The sheer number of amputations will leave your head spinning.

By Suzanne Feldman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sisters of the Great War as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Inspired by real women, this powerful novel tells the story of two unconventional American sisters who volunteer at the front during World War I

August 1914. While Europe enters a brutal conflict unlike any waged before, the Duncan household in Baltimore, Maryland, is the setting for a different struggle. Ruth and Elise Duncan long to escape the roles that society, and their controlling father, demand they play. Together, the sisters volunteer for the war effort—Ruth as a nurse, Elise as a driver.

Stationed at a makeshift hospital in Ypres, Belgium, Ruth soon confronts war’s harshest lesson: not everyone can be…


Book cover of This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century
Book cover of The Ralph Nader Reader
Book cover of The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America

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