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mfrisk's review
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Murder
stevia333k's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Hate crime, Murder, Violence, Racism, and Religious bigotry
chloethonus's review
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
3.0
The book started out very interesting, of course the entire premise of this story was fascinating from the get go, but in the end I was left unsatisfied. The pace of the book is quite fast, I have no idea why people are calling it slow, and some other tangents are spliced in with varying relevance. The one think I wanted to have seen was the reaction of the Klan to figuring out the man who they had wanted to take over the chapter was black, but ultimately this never happened. I get that it's a real story, but I would have figured somewhere along they way Ken and David Duke would have figured it out and maybe even commented publicly on the matter. It's an alright read, good for a quick book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Moderate: Gun violence and Hate crime
Minor: Homophobia, Xenophobia, Slavery, and Murder
linnylionheart's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Murder
Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence
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