Ask a bookseller: Eso Won Books in Los Angeles
Eso Won Books is a destination bookstore in Los Angeles owned by James Fugate and Tom Hamilton. Author Ta Nehisi Coates called it his favorite shop in the country earlier this month in The New York Times.
This week, Fugate recommends the book "Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent and Reform," by Harvard philosophy professor Tommie Shelby.
The book tackles the question: Why do ghettos persist in America?
It's a relevant read, Fugate said, with topics of race and poverty dominating this year's headlines.
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"I'm 62 years old and when I was back in college, I remember thinking: 'Oh, a lot of these things will end.' And they haven't, they've continued with us. And they've gotten worse," Fugate said.
He recommends this book for readers of Coates' "Between the World and Me" or Wesley Lowery's new book, "They Can't Kill Us All." There have been a number of books published this year that confront these same issues, especially incidents of police brutality.
"People keep saying that there's no solution, and I think Tommie Shelby actually offers ideas — constructive ideas — that might lead people to reconsider public policy and how you address issues of poverty, and how you address issues of injustice," Fugate said. "I've been reading these things for a long time, but I like books that offer some kind of solution."