23 Bestselling Nonfiction Books

Period: March/April - 2022

AALBC Bestseller Seal

The African American Literature Book Club’s Bestsellers List has been published continuously since 1998. It celebrates the bestselling titles from our curated selection of books written by or about Black people. Learn More below.

★ New: The BLK Bestsellers: America’s Bestselling Books

Fiction:
Fiction was our top-selling genre this period, with the Fall/Winter 20221 issue of the Killens Review of Arts & Letters (magazine) and Ladee Hubbard’s The Last Suspicious Holdout being the #1 and #2 bestsellers across all genres. Urban fiction titles experienced stronger sales this period.

Nonfiction:
The 1619 Project created by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Caste by Isabel Wilkerson have both made AALBC’s bestsellers list 5 times or more.

Children’s Books:
Sales were led by Mirror Girls by Kelly McWilliams. Nkechi Taifa has three books on the list this period helping to make her a Top 100 AALBC Bestselling Author.

Poetry:
There were not enough poetry book sales to generate a bestsellers list for this period.

1
Cover for The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

The 1619 Project

by Nikole Hannah-Jones
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2
Cover for Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

Caste

by Isabel Wilkerson
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3
Cover for You Grow, Gurl!

You Grow, Gurl!

by Christopher Griffin
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6
Cover for Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora

Black Food

by Bryant Terry
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7
Cover for Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker

Gathering Blossoms Under Fire

by Alice Walker and Valerie Boyd (editor)
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8
Cover for Souls for Sale: The Diary of an Ex-Colored Man

Souls for Sale

by Anthony Asadullah Samad
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9
Cover for White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America’s Darkest Secret

White Lies

by A. J. Baime
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11
Cover for The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women

The African Lookbook

by Catherine E. McKinley
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14
Cover for Finding Me: A Memoir

Finding Me

by Viola Davis
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15
Cover for Koshersoul

Koshersoul

by Michael W. Twitty
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16
Cover for Of Blood and Sweat: Black Lives and the Genesis of White Power and Wealth

Of Blood and Sweat

by Clyde W. Ford
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18
Cover for The Yellow House: A Memoir

The Yellow House

by Sarah M. Broom
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19
Cover for Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”

Barracoon

by Zora Neale Hurston and Deborah G. Plant
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21
Cover for Miss Chloe: A Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison

Miss Chloe

by A.J. Verdelle
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22
Cover for The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

The New Jim Crow

by Michelle Alexander
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More About our Bestsellers List

View a printer-friendly version or a collage of the book covers.

You will learn about books selling well in the Black community that may never show up on lists published by corporate entities. Spread the word about our list; don’t let one or two lists, which we don’t control, determine which books are important.

We collect our bestselling titles from all our sales channels. The majority of our sales come from this website and our in-person events. We also include sales generated through our affiliate relationships, including Bookshop.org, Libro.fm (audiobooks), and Amazon.com*.

*For a few years, we actively boycotted Amazon but have discontinued this practice to ensure we do not exclude authors who are exclusive to that platform. We still discourage exclusivity but support all Black authors.