20 Bestselling Nonfiction Books for March/April - 2021

AALBC’s Bestselling Book SealOur bestsellers list has been published continuously since 1998. Learn More ▶

Fiction: Richard Wright’s previously unpublished novel, The Man Who Lived Underground, is our bestselling fiction title. The Man Who Lived Underground was written between his landmark books Native Son (1940) and Black Boy (1945), at the height of Wright’s creative powers.

Nonfiction: Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice, Nkechi Taifa’s powerful memoir, outsold all other books this period and was given a rave review by AALBC.

Children’s Books: The 11-time AALBC bestseller, Whose Knees Are These?, by Jabari Asim led a very crowded field of popular children’s books. We cap our bestsellers list at 20 books, and our children’s list could have easily included 40 titles.

Poetry: The Tradition by Jericho Brown debuts on our bestsellers list at #1. The critically acclaimed work received many honors including winning a Pulitzer Prize.

View a printer-friendly version and a collage of the book covers. Also, check out links to more great books. Enjoy

#2

Book cover of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee

The Sum of Us

by Heather McGhee

Add to Cart

#3

Book cover of White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo

White Fragility

by Robin DiAngelo

Add to Cart

#7

Book cover of The ISIS Papers: The Keys to the Colors by Frances Cress Welsing

The ISIS Papers

by Frances Cress Welsing

Add to Cart

#8

Book cover of The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood by Tommy J. Curry

The Man-Not

by Tommy J. Curry

Add to Cart

#9

Book cover of Pillars in Ethiopian History: African History Notebook Vol I by William Leo Hansberry and Joseph E. Harris (editor)

Pillars in Ethiopian History

by William Leo Hansberry and Joseph E. Harris (editor)

Add to Cart

#10

Book cover of When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele

When They Call You a Terrorist

by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele

Add to Cart

#11

Book cover of The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America by Tamara Winfrey Harris

The Sisters Are Alright

by Tamara Winfrey Harris

Add to Cart

#12

Book cover of Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain

Four Hundred Souls

by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain

Add to Cart

#13

Book cover of Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

Begin Again

by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

Add to Cart

#14

Book cover of Pimp: The Story of My Life by Iceberg Slim

Pimp

by Iceberg Slim

Add to Cart

#16

Book cover of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness  by Michelle Alexander

The New Jim Crow

by Michelle Alexander

Add to Cart

More About our Bestsellers List


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), Black History 365 Education, and Amazon.com*.

We aggregate all formats of a book sold (print, ebook, and audio) into one format, usually the most popular print format

*For a few years, we actively boycotted Amazon but have discontinued this practice, as many of our authors have made their books exclusively available from Amazon. While we discourage giving Amazon the exclusive right to sell a book, we do not want this to be a reason to exclude an author from our site. Amazon also has an effective monopoly on eBooks and out-of-print books, which we highlight on this site.


The Most Critically Acclaimed Books

Bestselling Books By Year May be Found Here

Our All-Time Bestselling Books May be Found Here