New Al Sharpton book looks at America’s political crossroads

FILE – This June 23, 2019 file photo shows Al Sharpton presenting an award at the BET Awards in Los Angeles. Sharpton is working on a book meant to address what he calls an urgent moment in American history. Hanover Square Press announced Monday that the longtime civil rights activist’s “Rise Up: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads” is coming out Sept. 15.(Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The Rev. Al Sharpton is working on a book that will address what he calls an urgent moment in American history.

The longtime civil rights activist’s “Rise Up: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads” is coming out Sept. 15, less than two months before the 2020 election, Hanover Square Press announced Monday. Sharpton will look back at the Obama administration, the 2016 election of Donald Trump and the transformation of the Republican Party during Trump’s presidency.

Sharpton said in a statement that he wanted to “get people to understand the gravity of where we are as a nation; whether we will choose to continue the path of progress towards human rights and to value all people or whether we will choose the path of returning to a value system of where might is right and wealth is the measure of human value.”

Sharpton’s previous books include “Al On America,” “The Rejected Stone: Al Sharpton and the Path to American Leadership” and the memoir “Go and Tell Pharaoh.”

Hanover Square Press is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.