You and I met at a time when I was...between belief systems. The books you prescribed me when I asked were Allan Johnson. And, they were good in that they let my intellectual brain grasp things it wanted to -- they helped change what I believed!
So, if I was going to prescribe something to someone who wasn't asking but who was otherwise like me, I'd say, The Dispossessed. Or maybe @doctorow's Walkway —something that blends privilege, power,& difference with scifi & rebellion in a way that's boosted by affective transfer.