A Perilous Path

Huge names:  Stevenson's Just Mercy has sold over 400,000 copies, Lynch was Attorney General of the US from 2015 to 2017, Sherrilyn Ifill is the current head of the NAACP Legal Defense fund, the force behind the landmark Texas Voting Rights Act lawsuit, Tony Thompson is a well-known, well-connected, much-beloved NYU law professor.  They will help promote.
A searing read: This was a no holds barred conversation.
Timely book: The topic of race is suddenly a much more crucial one in the Age of Trump.
Inaugural book of NYU Center of Race Justice and the Law: Thompson will use this book to credentialize the center and has big plans to roll it out.
Popularity of the topic:  Michelle Alexander, Ta Nehisi Coates and others have demonstrated a huge audience for books on race.