Journalism
- "The Word of God: An Interview With Rakim", The Ringer, August 28, 2024
- "The Bottom of the Funnel: On Blacks, Jews, Whiteness, Conspiracy, and Hip-Hop", Los Angeles Review of Books, February 3, 2024
- "Antisemitism is rising. Time to summon a 10-foot-tall crisis monster.", Washington Post, September 26, 2023
- "Deprived of the rituals of death, we are left to invent ways to contain our grief", Boston Globe, June 18, 2021
- "The Bachelor Coaches of My Youth", Slate, May 30, 2018
- "Your Whole Family Will Love These Political Books", New York Times, April 21, 2017
- "I Thought I Knew You", This American Life, January 29, 2016
- 'Subway Art' review: A lush new edition of the NYC graffiti bible, Washington Post, January 15, 2016
- Stop dismissing President Trump: "Smart people" thought we'd never elect Ronald Reagan, too, Salon, January 14, 2016
- Kamau Bell and Adam Mansbach on #whitesagainsttrump: "White people standing up for themselves Marcus Garvey-style is an idea whose time has come", Salon, December 16, 2015
- "Whites against Trump": Kamau Bell and Adam Mansbach tell white people - yes, even you good liberals - to "come get your boy", Salon, December 14, 2015
- 'OK, so what would convince you that racism is real?,' Salon, July 8, 2015
- '"Damn, Rachel Dolezal. Even Vanilla Ice didn't claim to BE black": Kamau Bell and Adam Mansbach debate race,' Salon, June 15, 2015
- 'Turning An Off-The-Cuff Joke Into A Best-Selling Book,' BuzzFeed, November 11, 2014
- 'Kid, you have to f***king eat!,' Salon, October 28, 2014
- 'An Epic Evening of 'Yo Novel' Jokes,' January 24, 2014
- '10 ridiculously useful parenting tips for the holidays,' Salon, November 29, 2013
- 'Other parents suck,' Salon, November 10, 2013
- 'My fake college syllabus,' Salon, January 25, 2013
- 'Hell is my own book tour,' Salon, January 16, 2013
- 'The Stupidity Of New York's Long, Expensive (And Ongoing) War On Graffiti,' The Awl, January 15, 2013
- 'War Writ Small: Of Pushcarts And Peashooters,' National Public Radio's All Things Considered, December 19, 2012
- 'My year on the bestseller list,' Salon, December 12, 2012
- '12 New Books Brought to You By Penguin-Random,' Esquire, November 29, 2012
- 'Father knows...,' The Globe and Mail, June 15, 2012
- 'Trust Me On This: Vinyl,' Salon, June 12, 2012
- 'Go the F--k to Sleep' Author Mansbach on Colbert's Children's Book, The Daily Beast, May 8, 2012
- 'Blurb Your Enthusiasm,' The New Yorker, April 17, 2012
- 'Politics is Nicolas Sarkozy's best preparation for parenting,' The Guardian, October 21, 2011
- "Three Books," All Things Considered, National Public Radio, September 7, 2011
- Book review of The Night Train by Clyde Edgerton, in The New York Times Sunday Book Review, August 5, 2011
- 'Sedaratives: A Monthly Advice Column,' The Believer, June 2011
- 'Eat Your Fking Brussels Sprouts,' Esquire, June 14, 2011
- Book review of Pym by Mat Johnson, in The New York Times Sunday Book Review, March 4, 2011
- Interview with Pharoahe Monch, The Believer, January 2011
- 'Living With Music: A Playlist by Adam Mansbach,' in The New York Times, July 14, 2010
- Book review of The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason, in The New York Times Book Review, February 14, 2010
- ". . .and the 'hood pass'", Op-Ed, in The Boston Globe, February 13, 2010
- 'All The Words Past The Margins: Adam Mansbach and Kevin Coval Talk Understandable Smooth Shit,' from Born To Use Mics, edited by Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai, published by Basic Civitas, December 2009
- "The Audacity of Post-Racism," from The Speech: Race and Barack Obama's 'A More Perfect Union,' (Bloomsbury), edited by T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting. August, 2009. Also published on TheRoot.com.
- Book review of Subway Art by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, in The Boston Globe, August 8, 2009p>
- 'What is Jewish Culture?,' essay, Jewish Culture Foundation of Holland, July 23, 2009
- Book review of FOUNDATION: B-Boys, B-Girls, and Hip-Hop Culture in New York by Joseph Schloss, in The Boston Sunday Globe, May 24, 2009
- Book review of Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead, in The Boston Sunday Globe, April 26, 2009
- Book review of 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, in The Boston Sunday Globe, November 30, 2008
- Book review of All About the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can't Save Black America by John McWhorter, in The Los Angeles Times, June 19, 2008
- 'Author on tour adds a page, but not to this book,' The Boston Sunday Globe, April 27, 2008
- 'The End of the Jews: a Listening List,' Random House, February 1, 2008
- 'On Lit Hop' published in the anthology Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip Hop, edited by Jeff Chang
- Review of Amiri Baraka's Tales of the Out and Gone, published in The Boston Sunday Globe, March 2007
- Review of Jason Tanz's Other People's Property: A Shadow History of Hip Hop in White America, published in The Boston Globe, June 2007
- 'A Spontaneous Moment: An Interview with Sonny Fortune,' published in Wax Poetics, 2005
- 'Poetic Injustice: Hip Hop Pioneer Phase 2,' Wax Poetics, Spring 2005. Cover story.
- 'The Case for White History Month,' op-ed, The Boston Globe, March 2005.
- 'Drum Therapy,' a tribute to Elvin Jones, JazzTimes, 2004