Black Books That Were Snubbed and Made 'The New York Times' 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

Isabel Wilkerson’s 2010 book “The Warmth of Other Suns” was the number two on the list. The list makers at The New York Times called the well-researched book that tells the story of the Great Migration of Black Americans from the South to the North and West between 1915 and 1970 “the most vital and compulsively readable work of history in recent memory.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ 2015 bestseller “Between the World and Me” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, one of Time Magazine’s Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Decade and called “required reading” by Toni Morrison.

The New York Times credits Coates In pages suffused with both fury and tenderness, his memoir-manifesto delineates a world in which the political remains mortally, maddeningly inseparable from the personal,” they write.

Jesmyn Ward’s “Salvage the Bones” made number 33 on the list. The story is centered around a working class Black family in Mississippi preparing for Hurricane Katrina and dealing with the aftermath of the massive storm that left immense devastation behind. “There’s a biblical force to Ward’s prose, so swirling and heady it feels like a summoning,” wrote The New York Times.

At number 97 is Jesmyn Ward’s powerful 2013 memoir “Men We Reaped.” In the book, she writes about the dangers of being a Black man in the American South, though the lens of five men she loved who left her life too soon – either by suicide or homicide.

Jesmyn Ward was the only Black author to get three titles on the list, and her 2017 novel “Sing, Unburied Sing” made number 30. The story centers around a mother, struggling with addiction, who travels with her two children to pick up their father from prison. The book, which O Magazine calls “a tour de force,” beautifully explores generational trauma.

Saidiya Hartman’s 2019 “Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments” focuses on the lives of young Black women in the early twentieth century. Hartman writes about those who dared to depart from traditional gender roles to explore common law marriage, queer relationships and cohabitation in search of true freedom. The New York Times called it “beautiful” and “meticulously researched.”

Holding down the number 94 spot on the is list is Zadie Smith’s 2005 “On Beauty.” The story centers around an interracial family living in Massachusetts and touches on hot-button issues like race, culture, standards of beauty and the fight between conservative and liberal values. The New York Times calls it “450 provocative, subplot-mad pages.”

Tayari Jones’ 2018 novel “An American Marriage” is number 77 on the list. The book tells the story of newlyweds Celestial and Roy, whose relationship is tested when Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime he didn’t commit. Former President Barack Obama called it, “A moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.”

Number 69 is 2010's “The New Jim Crow,” written by civil rights attorney Michelle Alexander. This book paints a grim, yet realistic picture of the reality of racism in the United States, shining a light on the systemic injustice which exists in our justice system.

Kiese Laymon’s “Heavy” is number 60 on this list. The book is a beautifully written, deeply personal story of author Kiese Laymon’s experience growing up Black in Jackson, Miss. From his complicated relationship with his mother to his ongoing struggles with weight and abuse, this moving memoir lets readers into the most intimate parts of his soul. The Times calls it “ a work of raw emotional power and fierce poetry.”

Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison’s “A Mercy” made the list at number 47. The book tells the story of a 17th Century farmer and the slaves and indentured servants who work for him. This may be Morrison’s ninth novel, but The New York Times says, “The Morrison magic, towering and magisterial, endures.”

Zadie Smith’s 2001 debut novel “White Teeth” made the list at number 31. The story centers around an unlikely friendship between a white Londoner and a Bengali Muslim. Beautifully written, The New York Times calls it a “literary supernova.”

“Americanah” was the number 27 title on the list. The story centers around Ifemelu and Obinze – a young couple looking to leave military-ruled Nigeria for America. But everything doesn’t go according to plans. Ifemelu gets a dose of reality when she is forced to face what it means to be Black in America. Obinze, unable to enter America in a post-9/11 world, is forced to live a dangerous undocumented life in London. But when they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, they rediscover their passion for each other and their home country.

Paul Beatty’s 2015 novel “The Sellout” made the list at number 15. The satirical take on race relations is written from the perspective of a Black urban farm owner who wants to reinstitute slavery and segregation.

Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad” was a Pulitzer Prize winner and a 2016 Oprah’s Book Club selection. This gripping novel follows Cora, a teenage slave who escapes a cotton plantation in Georgia and made number 7 on The New York Times list.