For folks seeking ways to change the world that are rooted in community & faith, consider Quaker Voluntary Service.

David Massengill paints a griping and moving picture of the USA through his music - of race, immigrants, adoption, and much more. Instead of speechifying about politics, David brings change by involving listeners in real stories that move our hearts, all the more powerful because of his Tennessee vernacular and accent.

Glen Retief paints vivid pictures and addresses vital questions of identity & social justice in The Jack Bank: A Memoir of a South African Childhood. His stories deal with race, apartheid, homosexuality and homophobia, physical violence, sexual abuse - and much more - and he leads us on a journey of discovery and insight. And I learned that Post-Apartheid South Africa was the first country to protect the right of same-sex marriage.

Our racism is mostly invisible to us because all the assumptions around it seem "normal" to us, The authors of Seeing White: An introduction to White Privilege and Race lead us through a rigorous inspection of the history and present of racism in the USA - and the way out of this ingrained social construction.

Gary Dorrien is author of The Obama Question: A Progressive Perspective, in which he looks at Barack Obama, the man & his history, and his policies, to see whether they pass muster from a progressive political & theological perspective. Gary is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Religion at Columbia University. He is the author of 14 books and around 250 articles on a range of topics.

Sonny Ochs, sister to folk legend Phil Ochs, has helped carry forward the powerful legacy of Phil's music. On almost every topic - war, prejudice, immigration, etc - the songs are as meaningful today as back in the 60-70's. Just released, the documentary, Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune.

Larry Tye's recent book is SATCHEL: The Life and Times of an American Legend. Satchel Paige was a trail-blazer in the times when African-Americans were segregated from whites in their neighborhoods, schools, drinking fountains and on the ball field and Larry Tye chronicles Satchel's long march to color-blind recognition with the feel of an gripping adventure.

Dr Robert Holmes is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Rochester in NY, with a specialty in peace and nonviolence who has taught, written and spoken extensively on related topics.

Robin Bernstein traces the roots & mechanisms of racism in Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights. Robin's piercing analysis and thorough research ferret out gems of both fact and insight, providing powerful resources for those working to reduce racism and its propaganda.

The topic is race, racism & religion, both within Quaker meetings and in America at-large. Paul Kriese co-ediited Black Fire: African American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights, and he draws on his experience growing up in a black neighborhood and his academic formation in Political Science and Peace Studies to shine the Light on race relations.