Five Great Books for Social Workers

Twenty Years at Hull House
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
Three Little Words
It Gets Better

Great books for social workers are enjoyable to read as well as educational. The diversity of the field means social workers can pull from anthropology, history and psychology to find good books. Here are five non-fiction books for social workers wanting to improve their practice.

Twenty Years at Hull House

Jane Addams is often called the “mother of social work” for her efforts at promoting dignity for the less fortunate. Although she was born to wealth, she spent her days running a social center in a low-income neighborhood in Chicago. She combined fundraising, case management and social work into a long and successful career. In this book, she shares the keen insight and compassionate philosophy that has made her so beloved by generations of social workers.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Medical social worker can’t miss this book about the conflict between modern medicine and traditional cultures. A young Hmong girl, born to near-illiterate refugees, has a rare childhood disease. Her doctors want her to follow a strict biomedical treatment regimen. Her parents have their own methods for treating her. Neither side can communicate with the other, and the girl is eventually taken away by children’s services. This modern classic has sold almost a million copies to readers who want a great book about social work, anthropology and medical humanities.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America

This detailed account from author Barbara Ehrenreich follows a year in her life living as part of the working poor. She takes minimum-wage jobs, lives in the most affordable housing available and documents the lives of her coworkers. This is an important book for social workers interested in mezzo- or macro-level social work who want to understand the structural barriers faced by low-income clients. It’s an especially recommend book for social workers from middle- and high-income backgrounds.

Three Little Words

Former foster care child and current holder of a master of social work (MSW) degree Ashley Rhodes-Courter wrote this best-selling novel. She reflects on the 44 caseworkers she saw and 14 foster homes where she lived. This book, which started as an award-winning essay in the New York Times, is required reading for any social workers involved in family and child services. By giving voice to foster care children everywhere, Rhodes-Courter has set a new standard for macro-level social workers.

It Gets Better

LGBTQ youth are at great risk of becoming homeless, experiencing disruptions in their education and suffering from mental health issues. For school social workers and case managers who work with youth, it’s important to know how to help these teenagers. It Gets Better is a great book for social workers to share with clients because it offers stories by LGBTQ adults about how they overcame difficult times during adolescence. The book also led to the It Gets Better foundation, which many resources for social workers as well as youth.

The field of social work has been producing great writing for over a century. Many academics publish journal articles, textbooks and handbooks for practitioners. The five great books for social workers on this list are a good way to gain an overview of the field; formal education in social work will lead to more in-depth reading options.