Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - Black Klansman: A Memoir

Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Black Klansman: A Memoir by Ron Stallworth

12 reviews

princess_marie's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative tense medium-paced

4.25

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sillyduckie's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

1.0

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mfrisk's review

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

This was a pretty interesting read that is a good shallow dive into how hate groups can infiltrate communities and how they shift, change, and evolve how they communicate their hateful ideals to the larger public to gain buy in. It also is about the experience of a Black policeman going undercover to try to keep his community safe and his experience within the police and how it impacts his experience with the community. Definitely recommend this read just wish there was more of a call to action.

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sadgirlsidney's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

I was very excited when I found out the film, by the same name, was based on a book by the lead detective Ron Stallworth. I will say having seen the film first I was left somewhat sad by the dramatizations included in the film that in reality did not happen and simultaneously surprised by the interesting facts that weren't included. I find books like this so hard to review because as compelling and well written they may be the horrific subject matter has such a huge impact. But this is extremely well done and I'm so glad Ron also narrated the audiobook which is just a big bonus to me.

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stevia333k's review against another edition

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adventurous informative tense fast-paced

2.0

I don't know how to label this book for triggers. I'll update if I can figure that out.

While I think the context this book debuted in makes it insulting to black lives matter activists (and even some of the text is insultingly vague too), I like how this book gave profiles of civilian organizations & their organizing problems because it helps explain why people seek red-brown alliances (which for example can be seen in cases of domestic violence & addiction focusing on blue coats as a treatment).

I also liked how it framed terrorist organizations like the KKK as a franchise business. Basically look into business organizing to get insight on terrorist organizing since they both come from a source of company towns & extractivist/colonization firms.

So this is either 3 or 4 stars. I give it 4 stars because this gives me insight on some organizations around me, but otherwise this would've maxed out at 3 stars.

Like it's literally about 1 person's career, mainly 1 undercover investigation, and it doesn't give a profile of the whole police department. The data black lives matter activism is able to get from data leaks, lawsuits, and newspaper compilations is more informative than 1 case. Like this is a whole thing that cook county district attorney Kim Foxx emphasizes, and even she doesn't get investigations nor justice for black trans women & the femicides against my trans sisters. This author is to the right wing of Kim Foxx. (Also the author doesn't get much specific about leftist organizations that don't trust cops, which fair enough because I wouldn't want a cop speaking in behalf of the left much anyways.)

This book was recommended to me before the terrorist attack/hatecrime at Club Q in Colorado Springs. I feel like that's an example of how this book under serves our communities.

The stars are liable to drop as I have more time to feel it. Actually I'm dropping it to 2 as I've sat with it for 6 hours because I literally gave "Hitler's American Model" & "Everybody wants to be a fascist" 1 star for assuming the audience is anti-fascist when the medium doesn't fit that, even though I agree with those points. I give this 1 more than 2 because at least this book snitches, but I'll drop it to 1 star later if I feel like it.

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frannyd's review

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adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

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greatexpectations77's review

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adventurous informative inspiring tense fast-paced

3.75

This is a totally wild story, and I can see why it was made into a movie. Also having the author read the audiobook when he wasn't a trained narrator felt really authentic. Most interesting was probably seeing the views of the author who sat at so many intersecting communities.

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