Books on journalism: A black newspaper, reporting on AIDS, and in Rwanda

THE DEFENDER: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America, by Ethan Michaeli. A former copy editor and reporter at the storied African-American-owned newspaper tells the story of this Chicago institution, from its founding in 1905 through the Great Migration from the Jim Crow South, the civil rights movement and the election of Barack Obama. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $32)

DYING WORDS: The AIDS Reporting of Jeff Schmalz and How It Transformed The New York Times, by Samuel G. Freedman with Kerry Donahue. This book, along with a companion documentary on Public Radio Exchange, remembers the Times reporter whose own AIDS diagnosis led to his groundbreaking and sometimes deeply personal coverage of the disease in the early 1990s. (CUNY Journalism Press, $20)

BAD NEWS: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship, by Anjan Sundaram. A reporter who has covered Central Africa for The New York Times and The Associated Press chronicles his experience running a training program for journalists in Rwanda from 2009-2013, even as the government of President Paul Kagame cracked down on independent voices and critical reporting. (Doubleday, $25.95)