Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo

9 reviews

lancemama's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Bullying, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Cultural appropriation, Slavery, Classism, Colonisation, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, and Police brutality

Moderate: Cursing, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Hate crime, and Islamophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

bookcasey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense

5.0

Required reading for anyone in the United States.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Genocide, and Colonisation

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Suicide attempt, Murder, Islamophobia, Hate crime, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Mass/school shootings, and Homophobia

perpetualpages's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

CWs: References to sexual harassment, pedophilia, and sexual violence; discussions of white supremacy, racism, police brutality, hate crimes, and (reported) racial and sexual slurs; explorations of genocide, anti-Indigenous violence, war crimes, and chattel slavery; exploration of misogyny, deportation, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and antisemitism; some descriptions of online harassment, domestic terrorism, suicide, and gun violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Police brutality, Slavery, and Hate crime

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Suicide

rachrreads's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.5

While I agree with many of the arguments in this book on white male supremacy in America, I found the flow of the book to be hard to follow. This book really just felt like a bunch of essays thrown together with the main points of the argument at the beginning and end.

I learned quite a bit through all these stories/essays though, so that really helped the rating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Colonisation, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, and Xenophobia

traciereads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Bullying, and Hate crime

Moderate: Sexism, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Police brutality, Misogyny, Murder, and Slavery

Minor: Antisemitism, Cursing, and Islamophobia

emfass's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Ijeoma Oluo is simply one of the best writers writing today. In both this and So You Want to Talk About Race, she takes very tough and complex issues and makes them accessible. She is thorough and thoughtful and I honestly could have read another 100 pages or more of this book. It was also incredibly impactful to listen to the audiobook and hear Oluo's words in her own voice.

The introduction and conclusion chapters are vibrant and necessary overviews of the violence and harm caused by white male supremacy in the U.S. The chapters in between cover related topics by way of specific stories throughout American history. I deeply appreciated the unpacking of these important moments, and in particular the historic events I've lived through. 

Especially eye-opening to me were:
-the stories of Buffalo Bill and the Bundy brothers (Chapter 1)
-an exploration of Bernie bros (Chapter 2, possibly my favorite section of the book, as it helped put to words so many things I've sensed but didn't know how to say)
-the history of access (or lack thereof) to higher education in the U.S. (Chapter 3)
-the horrific tactics that white people used to try to keep Black people from leaving in the post-Reconstruction South (Chapter 4)
-the "problem" of women in the workforce after World War II (Chapter 5)
-the Squad's political career as women of color in Congress (Chapter 6)
-the racist history of football in the U.S. and the tidal wave of backlash that follows when players (including Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett) try to use their voice for change (Chapter 7)

Throughout the book, Oluo also shares many instances of the cruel, unjust, horrifying abuse she has endured as a Black woman writing very visibly about racial, feminist, and social justice issues. She does it not for pity, but I think as firsthand examples of the lengths white men will go to when they feel threatened.

I highly recommend this to everybody.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide, Slavery, Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Genocide

Moderate: Antisemitism, Bullying, Sexual assault, Islamophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Excrement

vvoman_of_darkness's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Xenophobia

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative inspiring tense medium-paced

4.25

I liked this much more than Oluo's previous book. I thought that the premise and execution were well done. Oluo ties a lot of disparate threads together under this theme. I will say, however, that the beginning and ending of the book were stronger and clearer than the middle. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Racial slurs, Racism, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Police brutality, Rape, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Hate crime, Grief, Genocide, Death, Cursing, Child death, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Ableism and Mental illness

Minor: Cancer, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Infertility, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

Displacement

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Thanks to Seal Press for the free advance copy of this book.

 MEDIOCRE is one of those books that makes the reader feel like they've put on a new pair of glasses and everything is clearer. So much of what Oluo dissects in this book are ideas that I've seen half-formed in many places, but she really expands on them and places them into the larger social context in a way that made lightbulbs go off all over the place for me. 📚
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The thesis of this book is that American men have been told the world is theirs, and when that wasn't delivered, they needed scapegoats - women, BIPOC, poor people - anyone who isn't them is taking away what is rightfully theirs. 📚
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Oluo traces several threads throughout American history - from the Wild West to the NFL - that have converged over time to bring us to where we are today. I feel like I have a much deeper understanding of these social forces now, and am better equipped to have conversations about them in the context of our current political landscape. I think if you are still trying to grasp all the reasons why Trump voters act the way they do, this book is a must-read. 📚
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Content warnings: Antisemitism, bullying, death, gun violence, hate crime, Islamophobia, mass/school shootings, misogyny, physical abuse, police brutality, racial slurs, racism, slavery, suicidal thoughts, violence, and xenophobia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Bullying, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Xenophobia