Boyle has written more extensively on racial issues in the United States. In 2004, his "Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age" won the National Book Award for non-fiction. The book subsequently won a host of other honors, including being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The work also was named a New York Times notable book for 2004 and a State of Michigan notable book for 2005.