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zalbion's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
youngthespian42's review against another edition
4.0
This book was one of a series of books I read to educate myself on the concepts of anti-racism and the current state of oppression for black people in America. New Jim Crow stands wayyy out from the pack. This is not some cultural studies/ critical race theory text that makes lots of reaching claims with little evidence. This is a scholarly text. Michelle Alexander dives deep into the history of racial oppression in America and cites hundreds of sources.
If I had to give one book to summarize where we are at on race in America this is the book. It also dovetails nicely with Woke Racism where McWhorter argues ending the war on drugs is 1 of the 3 things we can do to fix our systems of oppression. I would strongly add a prison abolition addendum to that change, especially after reading Michelle Alexander's book.
This book is dense, long, and dry. To me, it represents actually educating yourself and "doing the work" instead of role-playing with books like "How to be an Anti Racist" or "White Fragility." I think activism is the real work but you can't make a case until you have the facts. As a crude little internet troll screams repeatedly "facts don't care about your feelings" We aren't changing any minds with these cultural theory books. Alexander is the real deal.
If I had to give one book to summarize where we are at on race in America this is the book. It also dovetails nicely with Woke Racism where McWhorter argues ending the war on drugs is 1 of the 3 things we can do to fix our systems of oppression. I would strongly add a prison abolition addendum to that change, especially after reading Michelle Alexander's book.
This book is dense, long, and dry. To me, it represents actually educating yourself and "doing the work" instead of role-playing with books like "How to be an Anti Racist" or "White Fragility." I think activism is the real work but you can't make a case until you have the facts. As a crude little internet troll screams repeatedly "facts don't care about your feelings" We aren't changing any minds with these cultural theory books. Alexander is the real deal.
jamesarosen's review against another edition
5.0
I just read this for the first time — ten years after it was initially published. It’s amazing to see what a powerful impact Alexander’s work has had on the framing of public discussion over the last few years. This book gives me a new and better appreciation for many of the things I’ve been hearing elsewhere.
zachnachazel's review against another edition
3.0
This was a very enlightened read, but was incredibly repetitive. As content, I am overwhelmed by the likelihood that previous decades of political aspirations and cultural stigmatization generated an unspoken problem of racism in America. As a book, Alexander could have cut at least half of the pages, and more effectively delivered the message.
savaging's review against another edition
5.0
This is the most important book I've read in a long time. Really accessible and completely, relentlessly radical at the same time -- how does Alexander do this?
Anything else I try to write will just be sputtering about ending the prison industrial complex, so I'll just say: read this. Even if you already agree, even if you've already researched racism in the prison system. You might find the introduction a little slow or redundant -- forge on, this book is something the world is hungry for.
Anything else I try to write will just be sputtering about ending the prison industrial complex, so I'll just say: read this. Even if you already agree, even if you've already researched racism in the prison system. You might find the introduction a little slow or redundant -- forge on, this book is something the world is hungry for.
dkadastra's review against another edition
5.0
Dense, challenging, and completely necessary. Read it once before, but this second time with the advantage of doing it in a book club definitely helped my retention. Now the question is, what do we do about it?