This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.
After the 2020 murder of George Floyd, the United States experienced what was widely referred to as a “reckoning” with racism. The book industry was not exempt—pushed by protests against what employees called the industry’s “role in systemic racism,” major publishers promised to confront their overwhelming whiteness by hiring employees of color and acquiring books by nonwhite authors.