Reviews - Killers of the Dream

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8 reviews for:

Killers of the Dream

Lillian Smith

4.09 AVERAGE

abbymcclure1's review

5.0

dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Truly a work of art. The Little Prince analogy… wow

This book is far more emotional than it is factual. I'm not at all denying that racism is real and systemic and terrible. I'm just saying that this author reframes this problem in an emotional way, rather than referring to facts. That being said, this book could have been cut in half, because the gist of the story is made clear within the first 10 minutes of reading it.

jennoharmo's review

5.0

This book offers perhaps the most profound and yet concise explanation of the origins of 'white supremacy' -- as a concept, a practice, and even a legal framework at one time in our country. She has taken an extremely complicated issue and presented it in a way that is easy to follow, makes a great deal of sense, and I think it should be national required reading, for ALL ages.

jon_mckenney's review

4.0

Every southerner (and that certainly holds a facet of my identity) should read this book. Only thing holding it back from 5 stars was the first section was painful to read- her style took some getting used to. But overall, loved the back 3/4s of this book. Much food for thought

pastorcynthia's review

5.0

Changed my life in seminary and gave perspective to my own upbringing (which was far more Lillian Smith-like than Southern). I keep returning to the first chapters and the sense of futility expressed by her camper, especially after the experience of the play--not out of some masochistic tendency, but because I know that it will always take strength to speak out against racism. It helps me to name what we're up against (which has expanded in the years since the publication).