Peniel E. Joseph

The Third Reconstruction: America's Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century

The 2023 Book Award winner was “The Third Reconstruction: America's Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century” by historian Peniel Joseph. The book offers a powerful interpretation of recent history, arguing that the racial reckoning of 2020 marked the climax of a Third Reconstruction: a new struggle for citizenship and dignity for Black Americans, just as momentous as the movements that arose after the Civil War and during the civil rights era.