Most books removed from Naval Academy Library restored following revised Pentagon review

May 22, 2025 Story by: Editor

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In a significant reversal, the U.S. Naval Academy has reinstated nearly all of the 381 books it previously removed from its Nimitz Library as part of a Pentagon-directed effort to eliminate materials related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). This move comes after a more detailed review process clarified earlier, broader directives.

The initial removal in April 2025 targeted books addressing topics such as anti-racism and civil rights. Notable works affected included Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, as well as texts on the African American history.

The Navy said in a statement Wednesday that it reviewed the library collections at all of its educational institutions to ensure compliance with the directives, noting that materials have been “identified and sequestered.” The Army and Air Force also have reviewed their collections.

All of the services’ libraries had to provide their new lists of books to Pentagon leaders. Now additional guidance will be given on how to cull those lists, if needed, and determine what should be permanently removed. The review also will “determine an appropriate ultimate disposition” for those materials, according to a Defense Department memo.

The May 9 memo — signed by Timothy Dill, who is performing the duties of the deputy defense undersecretary for personnel — did not say what will happen to the books or whether they will be stored away or destroyed.

The libraries at the military academies and those at other schools and commands had to remove educational materials “promoting divisive concepts and gender ideology” because they are incompatible with the Defense Department’s core mission, the memo said.

Following confusion and criticism over the broad scope of the initial directive, the Pentagon issued more specific guidelines, leading to a reassessment of the removed materials. As a result, most books have been returned to the shelves, with only about 20 titles currently under further review. This number includes some books not identified in the initial purge.

Similar reviews are ongoing at Air Force libraries, including the Air Force Academy, where a few dozen books have been pulled for evaluation. Defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicated that the process is still underway.

The broader initiative to remove DEI-related content from military institutions has sparked debate and concern among service members, educators, and the public. Critics argue that such actions may undermine efforts to promote inclusivity and understanding within the armed forces.

The Department of Defense has stated that the reviews aim to ensure that materials align with current policies and directives. However, the evolving nature of these guidelines and their implementation continue to generate discussion about the role of DEI in military education and training.

As the situation develops, further updates are expected regarding the final disposition of the remaining books under review and the potential impact on other military educational institutions.

A list of the books removed in alphabetical by title:

Afro-Orientalism by Bill V. Mullen
America, Amerikkka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence by Rosemary Radford Ruether
America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis
American Hate: Survivors Speak Out edited by Arjun Singh Sethi
American Skin: Pop Culture, Big Business, and the End of White America by Leon E. Wynter
An Impossible Dream? Racial Integration in the United States by Sharon A. Stanley
Are We Born Racist? New Insights from Neuroscience and Positive Psychology edited by Jason Marsh, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Jeremy Adam Smith
The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom by Felicia Rose Chavez
The Agony of Masculinity: Race, Gender, and Education in the Age of “New” Racism and Patriarchy by Pierre W. Orelus
The American Non-Dilemma: Racial Inequality Without Racism by Nancy DiTomaso
Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama by Tim Wise
Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race in America by George Yancy
Blackface by Ayanna Thompson
Black is a Country: Race and the Unfinished Struggle for Democracy by Nikhil Pal Singh
Blackness Visible: Essays on Philosophy and Race by Charles W. Mills
Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream by Leonard Zeskind
Censoring Racial Ridicule: Irish, Jewish, and African American Struggles Over Race and Representation, 1890-1930 by M. Alison Kibler
Changing Nature of Racial and Ethnic Conflict in United States History: 1492 to the Present by Leslie V. Tischauser
Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity by Tim Wise
Color Matters: Skin Tone Bias and the Myth of a Post-Racial America edited by Kimberly Jade Norwood
Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World by Wil Haygood
Commodified and Criminalized: New Racism and African Americans in Contemporary Sports edited by David J. Leonard and C. Richard King
Confronting Racism in Higher Education: Problems and Possibilities for Fighting Ignorance, Bigotry, and Isolation edited by Jeffrey S. Brooks and Noelle Witherspoon Arnold
Conservatism and Racism, and Why in America They Are the Same by Robert C. Smith
Critical Race Theory and Education: A Marxist Response by Mike Cole
Critical Rhetorics of Race edited by Michael G. Lacy and Kent A. Ono
Defining Difference: Race and Racism in the History of Psychology edited by Andrew S. Winston
Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.
Desiring Whiteness: A Lacanian Analysis of Race by Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks
Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class by Ian Haney López
Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America—and What We Can Do About It by Juan Williams
Everywhere You Don’t Belong: A Novel by Gabriel Bump
Everything but the Burden: What White People Are Taking from Black Culture edited by Greg Tate
Fettered Genius: The African American Bardic Poet from Slavery to Civil Rights by Keith D. Leonard
Fire in the Heart: How White Activists Embrace Racial Justice by Mark R. Warren
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race edited by Jesmyn Ward
The Gangs of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country by Ron Stallworth, with Sofia Quintero
The Grammar of Good Intentions: Race and the Antebellum Culture of Benevolence by Susan M. Ryan
The Harvest of American Racism: The Political Meaning of Violence in the Summer of 1967 edited by Robert Shellow; with a foreword by Michael C. Dawson
Haunted Bodies: Gender and Southern Texts edited by Anne Goodwyn Jones and Susan V. Donaldson
Haunted City: Three Centuries of Racial Impersonation in Philadelphia by Christian DuComb
Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Hate on the Net: Extremist Sites, Neo-Fascism Online, Electronic Jihad by Antonio Roversi, Lawrence Smith
Hatreds: Racialized and Sexualized Conflicts in the 21st Century by Zillah Eisenstein
How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society by Manning Marable; foreword by Leith Mullings
How Racism Takes Place by George Lipsitz
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
How We Can Win: Race, History and Changing the Money Game That’s Rigged by Kimberly Jones
I Am a Man! Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement by Steve Estes
I Don’t Hate the South: Reflections on Faulkner, Family, and the South by Houston A. Baker, Jr.
I Don’t See Color: Personal and Critical Perspectives on White Privilege edited by Bettina Bergo and Tracey Nicholls
I’m Not a Racist, But…: The Moral Quandary of Race by Lawrence Blum
Inside Organized Racism: Women in the Hate Movement by Kathleen M. Blee
Inventing Black Women: African American Women Poets and Self-Representation, 1877-2000 by Ajuan Maria Mance
Jim Crow’s Legacy: The Lasting Impact of Segregation by Ruth Thompson-Miller, Joe R. Feagin, and Leslie H. Picca
The Machinery of Whiteness: Studies in the Structure of Racialization by Steve Martinot
The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea by Christopher J. Lebron
Mark One or More: Civil Rights in Multiracial America by Kim M. Williams
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad
Men’s College Athletics and the Politics of Racial Equality: Five Pioneer Stories of Black Manliness, White Citizenship, and American Democracy by Gregory J. Kaliss
Mixed Messages: Multiracial Identities in the “Color-Blind” Era edited by David L. Brunsma
My Vanishing Country: A Memoir by Bakari Sellers
The New Plantation: Black Athletes, College Sports, and Predominantly White NCAA Institutions by Billy Hawkins
The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration by Carol M. Swain
Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm by Robin DiAngelo
No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice by Karen L. Cox
Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams
Pay to Play: Race and the Perils of the College Sports Industrial Complex by Lori Latrice Martin, Kenneth J. Fasching-Varner, and Nicholas D. Hartlep
Playing While White: Privilege and Power on and Off the Field by David J. Leonard
Policing Black Bodies: How Black Lives Are Surveilled and How to Work for Change by Angela J. Hattery and Earl Smith
Pragmatism and the Problem of Race edited by Bill E. Lawson and Donald F. Koch
The Psychoanalysis of Race edited by Christopher Lane
Race and the Education of Desire: Foucault’s History of Sexuality and the Colonial Order of Things by Ann Laura Stoler
Race and the Making of American Political Science by Jessica Blatt
Race in Society: The Enduring American Dilemma by Margaret L. Andersen
Race Still Matters: The Reality of African American Lives and the Myth of Postracial Society edited by Yuya Kiuchi
Race Traitor edited by Noel Ignatiev and John Garvey
Racial Glass Ceiling: Subordination in American Law and Culture by Roy L. Brooks
Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights by Robin Bernstein
Racial Justice and the Catholic Church by Bryan N. Massingale
Racial Justice in America: A Reference Handbook by David B. Mustard
Racial Middle: Latinos and Asian Americans Living Beyond the Racial Divide by Eileen O’Brien
Racial Stasis: The Millennial Generation and the Stagnation of Racial Attitudes in American Politics by Christopher D. DeSante and Candis Watts Smith
Racist America: Roots, Current Realities, and Future Reparations by Joe R. Feagin
Reading Race: White American Poets and the Racial Discourse in the Twentieth Century by Aldon Lynn Nielsen
Revealing Whiteness: The Unconscious Habits of Racial Privilege by Shannon Sullivan
Richard Wright and Racial Discourse by Yoshinobu Hakutan
Right to Be Out: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in America’s Public Schools by Stuart Biegel
The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition by Linda Gordon
Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections from an Angry White Male by Tim Wise
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
State of Emergency: How We Win in the Country We Built by Tamika D. Mallory as told to Ashley A. Coleman; forewords by Angela Y. Davis and Cardi B
Stain Removal: Ethics and Race by J. Reid Miller
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
Teaching Race and Anti-Racism in Contemporary America: Adding Context to Colorblindness edited by Kristin Haltinner
Theorizing Discrimination in an Era of Contested Prejudice: Discrimination in the United States by Samuel Roundfield Lucas
They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowery
This Book Is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell; illustrated by Aurelia Durand
Through Our Eyes: African American Men’s Experiences of Race, Gender, and Violence by Gail Garfield
The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom by Barbara Smith
Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal by Andrew Hacker
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
The Ethnic Project: Transforming Racial Fiction into Ethnic Factions by Vilna Bashi Treitler
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive Economy by Andrea Flynn, Susan R. Holmberg, Dorian T. Warren, Felicia J. Wong
The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth by Kristin Henning
The Religion of White Supremacy in the United States by Eric A. Weed
The South Never Plays Itself: A Film Buff’s Journey Through the South on Screen by Ben Beard
The Spectre of Race: How Discrimination Haunts Western Democracy by Michael G. Hanchard
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
The Changing Nature of Racial and Ethnic Conflict in United States History: 1492 to the Present by Leslie V. Tischauser
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race edited by Jesmyn Ward
The Gangs of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country by Ron Stallworth, with Sofia Quintero
The Grammar of Good Intentions: Race and the Antebellum Culture of Benevolence by Susan M. Ryan
The Harvest of American Racism: The Political Meaning of Violence in the Summer of 1967 edited by Robert Shellow; with a foreword by Michael C. Dawson
The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea by Christopher J. Lebron
The New Plantation: Black Athletes, College Sports, and Predominantly White NCAA Institutions by Billy Hawkins
The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration by Carol M. Swain
The Psychoanalysis of Race edited by Christopher Lane
The Racial Glass Ceiling: Subordination in American Law and Culture by Roy L. Brooks
The Racial Middle: Latinos and Asian Americans Living Beyond the Racial Divide by Eileen O’Brien
The Religion of White Supremacy in the United States by Eric A. Weed
The Right to Be Out: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in America’s Public Schools by Stuart Biegel
The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition by Linda Gordon
The South Never Plays Itself: A Film Buff’s Journey Through the South on Screen by Ben Beard
The Spectre of Race: How Discrimination Haunts Western Democracy by Michael G. Hanchard
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom by Barbara Smith
Theorizing Discrimination in an Era of Contested Prejudice: Discrimination in the United States by Samuel Roundfield Lucas
They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowery
This Book Is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell; illustrated by Aurelia Durand
Through Our Eyes: African American Men’s Experiences of Race, Gender, and Violence by Gail Garfield
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
Teaching Race and Anti-Racism in Contemporary America: Adding Context to Colorblindness edited by Kristin Haltinner
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise
White Out: The Continuing Significance of Racism edited by Ashley “Woody” Doane and Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
White Racism: The Basics by Joe R. Feagin, Hernán Vera
Winning While Losing: Civil Rights, the Conservative Movement, and the Presidency from Nixon to Obamaedited by Kenneth Osgood and Derrick E. White
Writing/Teaching: Essays Toward a Rhetoric of Pedagogy by Paul Kameen