We need books about police violence and racism more than anything right now. Luckily, some small presses are offering their ebooks about police violence for free in the wake of protests against the murder of George Floyd. Load up your favorite e-reading device with these free ebooks and do the work to change your thinking and create a better world. For all of us.
Oh, and if you do download these free ebooks and can afford it, please donate the cost of the book to a good cause. We recommend Black Lives Matter or the American Civil Liberties Union.
From Haymarket Books
Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect?: Police Violence and Resistance in the United States edited by Joe Macaré, Maya Schenwar, and Alana Yu-lan Price
In this collection of reports and essays, read about police violence against BIPOC, miscarriages of justice, and failures of accountability and reform measures. Learn about the dangers of calling the police for minor instances. Read about how all marginalized groups—like pregnant people and people with mental illness—are treated by police. Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? is a fierce look at the police force and how it serves injustice to its people.
From Verso Books
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
Alex S. Vitale is here to get the world ready to rethink the nature of modern policing as it stands. Changes in accountability, diversity, training, and community relations play a part, sure. But the core of the issue must be addressed first. The End of Policing digs in to that core of modern policing and how the world can live better without it.
Police: A Field Guide by David Correia and Tyler Wall
Police: A Field Guide is an illustrated handbook and survival manual for encounters with police. It includes tips on how to handle friendly cops, Tasers, and non-compliance. This is a helpful book for activists everywhere to learn their rights and be prepared to fight police brutality.
From Seven Stories Press
Against Police Violence
With pieces by Angela Davis, Aric McBay, Howard Zinn, Anthony Arnove, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, and Huey P. Newton, read up on the horrors of police brutality and why prisons should be abolished in Against Police Violence.
From the University of Chicago Press
The Torture Letters: Reckoning with Police Violence by Laurence Ralph
For more than five decades, police have beaten, electrocuted, suffocated, and raped hundreds of the Chicago residents they were called to protect. The Torture Letters is a deep look at that history and the American public’s complicity in police violence.
Further reading: Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi is available to stream on Spotify. Upcoming books by Black authors you can preorder now.