[5] Cooper's first book was Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women, published in 2017 by University of Illinois Press.

A book review from National Public Radio (NPR) called Beyond Respectability "a work of crucial cultural study.

[citation needed] The book collection received positive acclaim from Publishers Weekly,[8] Kirkus Reviews,[9] Literary Hub,[10] and Ebony.

[12] In 2018, her book Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower was published by St. Martin's Press.

[2] Kirkus Reviews praised the writing, calling it "Sharp and always humane, Cooper’s book suggests important ways in which feminism needs to evolve for the betterment not just of black women, but society as a whole.