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As people who believe ideas drive change, we know there’s no gift more powerful than a well-chosen book. The right one doesn’t simply inform—it reframes public debates, challenges entrenched narratives, and sharpens our understanding of the political and cultural forces shaping our world. For many of us, books are more than gifts: They’re tools for thinking, catalysts for conversation, and fuel for the work ahead.

With the 2025 holiday season here, we’re all searching for meaningful presents—something with depth, intention, and real-world relevance. And when it comes to rigorous, forward-looking ideas, ������Ƶ and our continues to serve as a vital engine of insight. So whether you’re looking for a read that interrogates systems, amplifies overlooked stories, or arms a friend with new frameworks for navigating uncertain times, this selection of books published by Fellows in 2025 is designed to help you choose a gift with impact.

If you want to give something meaningful this season—something that carries intellectual weight, cultural relevance, and the potential for real influence—start here. 

by Julian Brave NoiseCat
We Survived the Night is a powerful narrative from Julian Brave NoiseCat, co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Sugarcane, that interweaves oral history with hard-hitting journalism and a deeply personal father-son journey. We Survived the Night paints an unforgettable portrait of contemporary Indigenous life, alongside an intimate and powerful reckoning between a father and son.

by Keisha N. Blain
Even before they were recognized as citizens of the United States, Black women understood that the fights for civil and human rights were inseparable. In Without Fear, acclaimed historian Keisha N. Blain tells the story of how, throughout American history, Black women made human rights theirs: From worldwide travel and public advocacy in the global Black press to their work for the United Nations, they courageously and effectively moved human rights beyond an esoteric concept to an active, organizing principle. 

by Kevin Sack
One of The New York Times’s “,” Mother Emanuel is a sweeping history of one of the nation’s most important African American churches and a profound story of courage and grace amid the fight for racial justice. From Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Kevin Sack, Mother Emanuel is an epic tale of perseverance, not just of a congregation but of a people who withstood enslavement, Jim Crow, and all manner of violence with an unbending faith.

by Brian Goldstone
Another addition to The New York Times’s list and one of The Atlantic’s , this plunges readers into a gripping tale of five Atlanta families struggling to remain housed in a gentrifying, increasingly unequal city. In There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America, Brian Goldstone illuminates the true magnitude, causes, and consequences of the new American homelessness—and shows that it won’t be solved until housing is treated as a fundamental human right.

by Eve L. Ewing
New York Times bestseller Original Sins is an eye-opening look at how American schools were designed to propagate the idea of white intellectual superiority, to “civilize” Native students, and to prepare Black students for menial labor. Longlisted for the , Eve L. Ewing’s book makes the case for profoundly reevaluating what schools are supposed to do, and for whom, as she challenges the way people understand the place we send our children for eight hours a day.

by Candace Rondeaux
And one ������Ƶ staff book selection: In Putin's Sledgehammer, Future Frontlines senior director Candace Rondeaux tells the astonishing story of the Wagner Group, the world’s deadliest militia. Told with unique inside sourcing and expertise, this Washington Independent Review of Books honoree is a gripping, terrifying account of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s meteoric rise and abrupt demise, and of a superpower that contracted its soul to a pitiless militia.