Books that are must reads for social workers trying to understand different perspectives. This list compiles recommendations made by the community under the post "Social Workers Book Recommendations"
created by Zazou
last updated February, 2026
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
Roxane Gay
The Life Before Us ("Madame Rosa'')
Romain Gary
Wonder (Wonder, #1)
R.J. Palacio
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
Uglies (Uglies, #1)
Scott Westerfeld
Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing
Jen Soriano
The Bone People
Keri Hulme
The Wisdom of Your Body: Finding Healing, Wholeness, and Connection through Embodied Living
Hillary L. McBride
Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century
Dorothy Roberts
Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta
James Hannaham
Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help
Larissa MacFarquhar
There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job
Kikuko Tsumura
Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
Beverly Daniel Tatum
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Ibram X. Kendi
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma
Stephanie Foo
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot
Mikki Kendall
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