From Malcolm X to Greta Thunberg, the Timeless Revolutionaries Who Helped Shape Our World
By Shabnam Mahmood
Jan/Feb 25
During every crisis, clear voices emerge to denounce state violence, guide the people, and reimagine what justice can look like. From revolutionary Black leaders to climate activists and political dissidents, these individuals have not only lived through the world’s upheavals but have helped to reshape it in the aftermath with their words and deeds. Here are 10 books by changemakers from our recent history that can guide us through times of uncertainty and unrest.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Born Malcolm Little, later known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, Malcolm X (1925–1965) remains a towering figure in the movement for Black liberation in the United States. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, co-written by Alex Haley, traces his transformation from hustler to Nation of Islam minister to global revolutionary. His unapologetic stances on Black dignity, self-defense, and anti-imperialism challenged liberal notions of gradual reform. These critical lessons remain especially resonant today amid resurgent white supremacy and unchecked police violence. Movements like Black Lives Matter draw heavily from Malcolm’s call for systemic change over and above tokenism and superficial inclusion by America’s liberal elites.
Rifqa by Mohammad El-Kurd
A young Palestinian poet and activist, Mohammad El-Kurd (born 1998), gained international attention for documenting the Israeli occupation of Sheikh Jarrah, his East Jerusalem neighborhood. His book Rifqa, named after his grandmother, fuses resistance poetry and memoir to tell his family’s story of generational trauma and strength. El-Kurd writes with a fire fueled by grief, reflecting on dispossession, Israeli apartheid, and the global complicity that sustains it. In recent months that have witnessed the ongoing genocide in Gaza and unchecked violence in the West Bank, El-Kurd’s voice is a piercing reminder of the human cost of Israeli settler colonialism.
If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose by Reefat Alareer
Reefat Alareer (1979-2023) was a Palestinian writer, poet, educator, and activist from Gaza City. He taught English literature and creative writing at the Islamic University of Gaza and co-founded the organization We Are Not Numbers which pairs young Palestinian writers with international mentors to help them tell their stories in English. This posthumous collection compiles Alareer’s poetry, essays, and reflections between 2010 and 2023, the year of his murder at the hands of the Israeli military. The title poem, “If I Must Die,” penned in 2011, gained widespread attention after his death during Israel’s genocide in Gaza and was translated into over 250 languages. Alareer challenged the dominant narrative by refusing to let the story of Gaza be told solely through Western media lenses. Through his teaching, editing, and writing, he amplified the voices of young Palestinians. Alareer taught the world the meaning of Palestinian identity until his last breath while under a brutal Israeli siege. His voice democratized resistance through storytelling, and his untimely death only further solidified his legacy. This book serves as a testament to his literary contributions and to the resilience of the Palestinian people still struggling under occupation violence today.
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Imprisoned for 27 years for his anti-apartheid activism, Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) emerged not with bitterness or hatred but with a vision of national healing for all South Africans. His autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, chronicles South Africa’s struggle against white minority rule and documents his own evolution as a political and social leader. In an age of racial reckonings and post-colonial disillusionment, Mandela’s life offers both inspiration and caution, especially as South Africa continues to grapple with racial inequality and segregation long after the end of the white apartheid regime.
Orientalism by Edward Said
Edward Said (1935–2003), a Palestinian American scholar and one of the founders of post-colonial studies, revolutionized the American academy with Orientalism, a searing critique of Western representations of the “East” as violent, backwards, and inferior. His later works, like Covering Islam and Culture and Imperialism, extended this institutional critique to literature, media, cultural paradigms, and geopolitical norms. Said’s analysis of representation and power remains vital in a world where Islamophobia, news media bias, and academic gatekeeping persist. He championed the right of Palestinians to narrate their own history, a vital intellectual legacy continued by thinkers like El-Kurd and Alareer.
No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg
At just 15, Greta Thunberg sparked a global youth climate movement by striking from school outside the Swedish parliament. Her collected speeches, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, call out political elites in Europe and across the world and demand urgent action on the ongoing climate crisis. Greta’s sharp moral clarity and refusal to placate the powerful echo voices like those of Mandela and Malcolm X. As climate catastrophes disproportionately affect the Global South, her advocacy highlights the need for climate justice centered on the most vulnerable among us.
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Booker Prize-winning author of The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy has become one of India’s fiercest critics of ethnonationalism, capitalism, and militarism. Set in Kerala, this book explores how seemingly insignificant events shape all of our lives. The story revolves around fraternal twins who reunite as adults years later and revisit the tragic events of their childhood. At its heart, this book offers a critique of India’s societal norms. Roy explores how institutions–police, courts, and other government institutions–collude to maintain power and suppress marginalized voices. The book shares deep emotional and political resonances with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, especially around themes of occupation, state violence, and systematic oppression. Roy critiques the Indian caste system’s violent yet invisible architecture and the manner in which it is enforced through social rules and oppressive legal silences. These practices mirror Israel’s apartheid system not only through conspicuous displays of force but also through walls, checkpoints, IDs, and other forms of oppressive bureaucracy. Her essay collections like Field Notes on Democracy and Capitalism: A Ghost Story examine the violence of neoliberal development, caste hierarchies, and Hindu majoritarianism. In Modi’s India, where dissent is criminalized and minorities face daily persecution, Roy’s fearless writing provides both witness and warning.
Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon
French Algerian psychiatrist and philosopher Frantz Fanon (1925–1961) dedicated his all-too-brief career to exposing the psychological and cultural wounds of colonialism. His seminal works, Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth, remain foundational texts for global liberation movements. Fanon argued that true decolonization requires not just political independence but the reclamation of dignity and self-worth. As former colonies confront neocolonial debt, militarism, and cultural erasure around the world today, Fanon’s call for total liberation still reverberates.
This Is What America Looks Like by Ilhan Omar
In 2016, Ilhan Omar was elected into the House of Representatives (D. Mn.), making history as the first Somali American and the first hijabi in Congress. Born in Somalia and raised in a Kenyan refugee camp before settling in the U.S., she grew up determined to give voice to marginalized Americans across the country and became a beacon of hope in an era of Islamophobia. Her memoir, This Is What America Looks Like, recounts her journey and her vision for an inclusive, anti-imperialist America. Omar has faced relentless Islamophobic, racist, and sexist rhetorical attacks, yet she continues to advocate for Palestinian rights, climate justice, and the dismantling of systems of oppression, embodying ideals of justice, liberation, access, and equality.
Unbowed by Wangari Maathai
Nobel Laureate and Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai (1940-2011), founded the Green Belt Movement, which empowers women to plant trees and resist land grabs. Her memoir, Unbowed, focuses on ecological justice, women’s empowerment, and democracy. Maathai’s legacy is increasingly significant in today’s era of rapacious extractive capitalism. Her dedication to ethical spending and activism from grassroots mobilization and ethical expenditure is reflected in the global boycotts focused on protecting the environment and securing human rights for all.
An Arabesque of Struggle and Solidarity
Though spanning continents, causes, cultures, and identities, these 10 figures share more than just a literary background. They each embody a moral clarity and a defiant hope that continues to animate resistance today. Whether it is Thunberg rallying climate strikers in Sweden, El-Kurd documenting apartheid in Palestine, or Roy dissecting fascism in India, these collective voices offer tools, language, and extraordinary vision for the building of a freer, greener, more just world. Their work does not belong to the past. It belongs to all who refuse to surrender to injustice now, not just to guide us, but to galvanize us into action in the weeks, months, and years ahead.
Shabnam Mahmood is a freelance writer and educational consultant in Chicago.
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