The 2023 Zócalo Book Prize Honors Explorations of Community

We’re Looking for the Best Nonfiction Books on Human Connection

Since 2011, Zócalo Public Square’s annual book prize has recognized the U.S.-published nonfiction book that best enhances our understanding of community and the forces that strengthen or undermine human connectedness and social cohesion. Zócalo is grateful to screenwriter and philanthropist Tim Disney for his continuing sponsorship of our literary prize program, which also includes the Zócalo Poetry Prize.

Our mission is to connect people to ideas and to each other, which is why we have honored authors who explore these themes for over a dozen years now. Whether it’s a public …

September 8, 2022

The 2022 Zócalo Book Prize Celebrates Human Connectedness

For 12 Years, We Have Honored Excellence in Nonfiction Exploring Community and Social Cohesion

September 17, 2021

How Los Angeles Can Govern Street Vending With the Respect It Deserves

The City, State, and County Have to Innovate to Fairly Govern the Half-Billion Dollar Business

by Álvaro Huerta, Victor Narro, and Doug Smith | July 14, 2021

Street vending isn’t just ubiquitous in Los Angeles. It’s a half-billion-dollar industry, according to a 2015 report by nonprofit research organization Economic Roundtable.

Street vending can no longer be dismissed by …

It Took Six Major Depressions and a Lot of Out-of-Work Americans to Create a National Unemployment Count

What the Monthly Reports Measure, What They Miss, and How They Were Established

by Frank Stricker | September 9, 2020

Monthly public reports on jobs and the unemployment rate are such a staple of American civic life that it can seem as if they’ve always been with us. But these …

Our Search for Human Connection Continues in 2020

The 11th Annual Zócalo Book Prize Honors the Best Writing on Community and Social Cohesion

September 4, 2020

Since 2011, Zócalo Public Square’s annual book prize has recognized the nonfiction book, published in the U.S., that best enhances our understanding of community and the forces that strengthen or …

Eduardo Porter and Cynthia Greenlee | Zócalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

How Has Racism Shaped the American Economy?

Eduardo Porter and Cynthia Greenlee Discuss Institutional Failures and a National Lack of Empathy

by Sara Suárez | July 21, 2020

What is the relationship between American economics and American racism, and can it be severed? How will systemic racism, past and present, slow our emergence from the current downturn? New …

Economics