7 new books to read in July

An in-depth examination of the role of Black voters in the American electorate and the subsequent suppression of voting rights; an exploration of long-term friendships from the hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend; and a gossipy (and sometimes sensational) behind-the-scenes look at celebrity culture from one of New York City’s premiere social columnists.

Here are some of the new books being published in July to consider picking up from your local bookstore or library this month.

The End of White Politics: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide by Zerlina Maxwell

Available July 7

Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, MSNBC political analyst and SiriusXM host Zerlina Maxwell breaks down the past and present problems with the Democratic Party. Essentially, they’re still doing it wrong. In The End of White Politics (Hachette), no subject is off the table as Maxwell dismantles the problems around “Bernie bros,” former Mayor Pete Buttigieg and white privilege, and social media activism. In the end, Maxwell’s book aims to serve as a blueprint for uniting the party ahead of November while empowering marginalized groups and explaining how progressives can lean into identity politics in a beneficial manner.

Say It Louder!: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy by Tiffany D. Cross

Available July 7

Black voters were critical in the presidential election of Barack Obama in 2008, and they were instrumental in the 2018 midterm elections. Frankly, Black people have played a crucial role in every major American election—and yet this powerful voting bloc is not only dismissed but regularly sees its voting rights deprived throughout the country. Say It Louder! (Amistad Press) is an explosive examination of how America’s electoral map was designed to exclude Black voters, but paradoxically would likely cease to exist without them.

The New Parisienne: The Women & Ideas Shaping Paris by Lindsey Tramuta

Available July 7

In a follow-up to her first book, The New Paris, American journalist (and Fortune contributor) Lindsey Tramuta explores the impact that the women of Paris have had on the City of Light while deconstructing idealized myths and stereotypes surrounding Parisian women (they’re not all white, extremely thin, and impossibly fashionable.) Featuring 50 activists, creators, educators, visionaries, and disrupters—from singer-songwriter Inna Modja to Mayor Anne Hidalgo—the book positions Paris as a blossoming cultural center of feminine power. For readers who want to use the book as an accompaniment when traveling to Paris, each section is capped off with the subject’s favorite destinations and women-owned businesses, including boutiques, artistic venues, bistros, and cafés.

Gatecrasher: How I Helped the Rich Become Famous and Ruin the World by Ben Widdicombe

Available July 7

Ben Widdicombe boasts that he’s the only writer to have worked for Page Six, TMZ, and the New York Times. In Gatecrasher (Simon & Schuster), New York’s self-described premiere gossip turned society writer spills the sensational stories that were previously too hot to print, from the Oscars and the Met Gala, to the Hamptons and Mar-a-Lago.

Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman

Available July 14

Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend, bring their droll but frank wit and personality to a book that chronicles their first decade in each other’s lives, from life-threatening health scares to getting fired from their dream jobs—and one unfortunate Thanksgiving dinner eaten in a car in a parking lot in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Big Friendship is meant to invite the reader to think about how your own bonds are formed, challenged, and preserved.

The Year of Dangerous Days: Riots, Refugees, and Cocaine in Miami 1980 by Nicholas Griffin

Available July 14

Pre-pandemic, Miami received nearly 10 million tourists on average annually, all clamoring for spots on the pristine beaches and at some of the hottest nightclubs in the country. But the Floridian city wasn’t always this idyllic. The Year of Dangerous Days (37 Ink) chronicles one year in the city’s history, examining police brutality, a drug epidemic, an explosive refugee crisis, and a 150% murder rate increase over the course of 1980. Against all odds, Miami survived and became a much more vibrant city—one that was built on drug money and corruption, oozing severe ramifications for the rest of the country.

Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey

Available July 28

Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Natasha Trethewey explores the profound experience of pain and loss. At age 19, Trethewey had her world turned upside down when her former stepfather shot and killed her mother. Tracing her mother’s history in the deeply segregated South and through her own girlhood as a “child of miscegenation” in Mississippi, Trethewey explores her sense of dislocation and displacement in the lead-up to the harrowing crime that took place on Memorial Drive in Atlanta in 1985.