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Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi
4 reviews
jennie_white2008's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Racism, War, Drug use, Police brutality, Violence, Xenophobia, Death, Ableism, Addiction, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Slavery, and Torture
sydapel's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I usually don't rate the anti-racist books I read, but holy shit was this the most impactful thing I've read this year, and I haven't seen it talked about nearly enough. It's so uniquely structured and powerfully written, and more than any other book I've read made me directly confront the white supremacy rooted in this country's history. It's long, but so worth your time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Murder, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, War, Violence, Racism, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Hate crime, Drug use, Mental illness, Torture, Rape, Colonisation, and Sexual assault
steveatwaywords's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
This collection of historical essays is so accessible, it's a wonder it is not more widely used in schools and public discourse. Each entry, focused usually on a small or local figure at some point in the 5-year span, is also given the broader context in the narrative of black experience and the American story and written by a different author. While some topics are expected (Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Hip-Hop), none are "traditionally-taught" accounts but each reveals an unexpected (at least for me) connection, a significant consequence, or a series of details which--while barely planned by editors Kendi and Blain--underscore larger patterns.
Widely researched (though awkwardly cited with difficult-to-navigate and unmarked end notes), nearly every essay hints at still deeper scholarship to be revealed. I say "nearly every essay" because this is one of two concerns I had about the project:
1) While I am not certain of the directives given the various writers, not each approached the task with equal devotion to scholarship. I expected (and desired) analysis and judgments to accompany the topics and, especially in the earlier essays, these appeared, solidly built upon documented evidence. In a few (fortunately quite few) cases, however, there was more judgment than analysis and more still than documented detail. This was frustrating, as the tone for the book had been set by more focused historians earlier. But when the rhetoric grew powerful in place of scholarship, the interest in learning waned. In my view, it undermined the credibility of the collection as a whole.
2) My other concern is not truly that. As large as the collection is (80-odd brief essays with 10 poems), it is yet incredibly brief, barely skimming the richness and nuanced diversity of narratives we have of black history. In other words, I found myself reading the work as an introduction to larger studies (some completed or underway by the writers), or as a first volume, perhaps, to another few thousand which might still be written. To be sure, this is hardly a criticism but a printing limitation; but to that end, I would have appreciated a section which pushed readers to more serious scholarship out there on its topics. The brief writer bio entries at the end were in this way somewhat helpful, but not reliably focused on expanding the reader's experience.
Still, as I purge my bookshelf of over 5000 titles, <i>Four Hundred Souls</i> will stay, because it a volume I am confident to return.
Widely researched (though awkwardly cited with difficult-to-navigate and unmarked end notes), nearly every essay hints at still deeper scholarship to be revealed. I say "nearly every essay" because this is one of two concerns I had about the project:
1) While I am not certain of the directives given the various writers, not each approached the task with equal devotion to scholarship. I expected (and desired) analysis and judgments to accompany the topics and, especially in the earlier essays, these appeared, solidly built upon documented evidence. In a few (fortunately quite few) cases, however, there was more judgment than analysis and more still than documented detail. This was frustrating, as the tone for the book had been set by more focused historians earlier. But when the rhetoric grew powerful in place of scholarship, the interest in learning waned. In my view, it undermined the credibility of the collection as a whole.
2) My other concern is not truly that. As large as the collection is (80-odd brief essays with 10 poems), it is yet incredibly brief, barely skimming the richness and nuanced diversity of narratives we have of black history. In other words, I found myself reading the work as an introduction to larger studies (some completed or underway by the writers), or as a first volume, perhaps, to another few thousand which might still be written. To be sure, this is hardly a criticism but a printing limitation; but to that end, I would have appreciated a section which pushed readers to more serious scholarship out there on its topics. The brief writer bio entries at the end were in this way somewhat helpful, but not reliably focused on expanding the reader's experience.
Still, as I purge my bookshelf of over 5000 titles, <i>Four Hundred Souls</i> will stay, because it a volume I am confident to return.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Violence, and Racism
The nature of the history of black Americans is rife with abusive treatment. These historians do not flinch from discussing it where relevant; however, each is treated factually as essential to its topic and never gratuitously.serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
When I undertook my history degree it was drummed into me that good history was detached, impartial and objective. Four Hundred Souls is not that sort of history - and it is all the better for it. Stronger and far more engaging. And more truthful.
It’s a community history, a compilation of eighty essays, each by a different author. The authors came from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines; this is not a book authored solely by academic historians. Some essays focused on a person, some an event, some an object, others an idea. I loved the variety of topics, styles and voices. Each essay covered a five year period and they were arranged chronologically which gave the book a flow, a sense of historical progression and a cohesiveness. The essays were divided into ten sections, each of which ended with a poem that reflected on the preceding essays. I’ve never seen this done before but I thought it was very effective. The poetry brought a different dimension and I wished some visual arts had been able to be included also.
Another thing that really stood out is the way most, if not all, essays explicitly linked the events of the past with those of the present. This is not a book of dry facts from the past; this is history that clearly explains the present, and sadly indicates the way things have not changed as much as they ought.
It’s very hard to review such a diverse collection. Personally I especially enjoyed the essays that looked at the 1600 and 1700s since it’s a period of US history that I’m less familiar with. Michael Harriot’s essay on the Reconstruction era really stood out because of it’s honest language, language that differs from that found in most history books. They talk about racial unrest; he talks about terror cells and a war being waged to create a white supremist state. Tera W. Hunter’s exploration of the Shermantown neighbourhood also caught my eye.
Four hundred years of history may sound a daunting read but it’s not. All the essays bar one are between 3 and 5 pages, meaning this can easily be read, slowly but steadily, at the rate of one essay per day - a pace that would allow plenty of time for reflection.
Unique and Unmissable.
It’s a community history, a compilation of eighty essays, each by a different author. The authors came from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines; this is not a book authored solely by academic historians. Some essays focused on a person, some an event, some an object, others an idea. I loved the variety of topics, styles and voices. Each essay covered a five year period and they were arranged chronologically which gave the book a flow, a sense of historical progression and a cohesiveness. The essays were divided into ten sections, each of which ended with a poem that reflected on the preceding essays. I’ve never seen this done before but I thought it was very effective. The poetry brought a different dimension and I wished some visual arts had been able to be included also.
Another thing that really stood out is the way most, if not all, essays explicitly linked the events of the past with those of the present. This is not a book of dry facts from the past; this is history that clearly explains the present, and sadly indicates the way things have not changed as much as they ought.
It’s very hard to review such a diverse collection. Personally I especially enjoyed the essays that looked at the 1600 and 1700s since it’s a period of US history that I’m less familiar with. Michael Harriot’s essay on the Reconstruction era really stood out because of it’s honest language, language that differs from that found in most history books. They talk about racial unrest; he talks about terror cells and a war being waged to create a white supremist state. Tera W. Hunter’s exploration of the Shermantown neighbourhood also caught my eye.
Four hundred years of history may sound a daunting read but it’s not. All the essays bar one are between 3 and 5 pages, meaning this can easily be read, slowly but steadily, at the rate of one essay per day - a pace that would allow plenty of time for reflection.
Unique and Unmissable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Slavery, and Violence
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