Cushion in the Road is a collection of wide-ranging meditations on the human race's intertwined personal, spiritual and political destinies. It revisits the many themes that the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and activist has addressed throughout her career: racism, Africa, solidarity with the Palestinian people, the campaign of defendants who have relied on Gideon's promise, bringing renewed attention to an essential but failing aspect of the US criminal justice system and offering insight into how it might be saved.