By Dave Zirin.

• Position: Brief article

The two books that captured me in 2015 on the surface could not be more different. One was a memoir about escaping poverty and injustice that made me cry. The other was a book about poverty and injustice that made me laugh.

The Education of Kevin Powell (Simon & Schuster), written by the bestselling author and journalist, tore my heart out. Powell spends the first half of the book describing his childhood in Jersey City. The rats. The roaches. The violence. And the sadness of being raised by a single mother more likely to administer a beating than a hug. The second half speaks about the utterly under-covered heyday of hip-hop activism in the late 1980s. Powell's book is so searing because he is honest about the scars that, even with success, never heal.

The second book covers similar ground but the only tears produced were squeezed...