- *The Color of Class: The Forgotten Essence of the American Dream* (2019)
- *This Is Not a Test: Stories About the Young and Uprooted* (2016)
- *Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics* (2016)
- *Writing the Revolution: The Radicalization of the American Mind, 1865–1970* (2011)
- *The Nation to End All Nations: Palestine and the Limits of Empire* (2009)
- *In Search of the Color Line: The Politics of Race in the Post–Civil Rights Era* (2006)
- *Don’t Let Them In: The Case Against Immigration* (2003)
- *The Promise of Paradise: Debate and Controversy in the United States on Foreign Immigration to and Settlement in Palestine* (2001)
- *Dignity and Defiance: Stories from the Thirteenth Street Squat* (1998)
- *The Trouble You Been Looking for: Thirteen Radically Honorable Tales* (1996)
- *The Heretic’s Guide to Politics: Beyond Left and Right* (1995)
- *Beyond the Mountain* (1993)
- *The Death of the West: The Birth of a New World Order* (1992)
- *Children of the Storm* (1990)
- *The Education of a Wasted Man: A Memoir* (1989)
In addition to his books, Spence has also written several plays, including *Forging the Soul: On the Road with the Black Man in America*, *The Brothers in the Barbershop*, and *The Ballad of Rodney Littlewood*. He has also directed several films, including *The Color of Class* and *Knocking the Hustle*.
Spence is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and holds a master's degree in creative writing from the University of New Hampshire. He is a former Guggenheim Fellow and a member of the National Book Critics Circle. He is currently a professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park.