Riot Recommendation

35 of Your Picks for Activism Fiction

María Cristina García lives in New York with her favorite spouse, her favorite toddler, her favorite cat, and her second-favorite cat. When not ranking members of her household, she's catching up on Supergirl, strumming her mandolin, or trying to beat the clock on her library loans. Twitter: @MeowyCristina Blog: MeowyCristina.com

This Riot Recommendation of favorite fiction about activism is sponsored by Parts per Million by Julia Stoops. Parts per Million | fiction about activismA tale of activism, loss, and transformation, Parts per Million is reading for the resistance. Three Portland activists work hard to save the world—one radio show at a time—when an Irish photographer with an expired visa disrupts their lives. Against the 2002 backdrop of the buildup to the Iraq war, the activists uncover war technologies research at an Oregon university, setting off a page-turning sequence of events. Julia Stoops began Parts per Million, a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, during the tumultuous period after 9/11, and it’s now “a primer for the fight to come.”
Social engagement can make for some engaging reading, especially during this moment in time when consciousness raising is a civic duty for all ages. So we asked you to tell us what you think are the best fiction reads featuring activism. Here are some of your recommendations: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas The Long Night of White Chickens by Francisco Goldman Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata Landfall by Ellen Urbani Radio Free Vermont by Bill McKibben My Son’s Story by Nadine Gordimer Small Changes by Marge Piercy Zodiac by Neal Stephenson Gifted by John Daniel The Ink Truck by William Kennedy The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer Meridian by Alice Walker State of Wonder by Ann Patchett Marrow Island by Alexis M. Smith In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck Christodora by Tim Murry Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa Buffalo Brenda by Jill Pinkwater We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge God’s Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembene Tell No Lies by Barbara Rhine Everything Belongs to Us by Yoojin Grace Wuertz Five Smooth Stones by Ann Fairbairn The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin The Book of Daniel by E. L. Doctorow Wicked by Gregory Maguire The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta The Sydney Rye series by Emily Kimelman The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld Hot Season by Susan Defreitas The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz