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camerronr's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
encyclopediabritanika's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a stunner and I consider required reading for all Americans. Broken into chapters written by different authors on varied topics with poems and letters as interstitials, it tells a compelling and accurate story of how all the things we know and ways we live in America are driven by race. Democracy, healthcare, punishment, inheritance, traffic patterns - they are all examined. I don't know what else to say but we as Americans must read this and not only grapple with the ongoing racist policies that have historically and presently hurt Black Americans, but also make changes to rectify the real harm that continues.
evilchocho's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
lulo49's review
5.0
I listened to this on audible as I wanted to hear the voices of the people who wrote and read parts of this excellent work. The book traces the history of racisim in the US back to the first slave ship in 1619 up to today. To produce this work the author and collaborators researched historical records, laws and acts, speeches, newspaper articles, population records, physical evidence, and more. This is a comprehensive documetation of how, at every juncture when it might have been possible to bring equal treatment to black people, to provide reparations that might bring the same opporunity to black people that white people have always had, the ruling class (politicians, administrators, educators, religious figures, bankers, the legal system, other institutions) chose to ignore the needs and lives of black people. Having read other books by black authors and historians focused on telling the full history of the US, much of the areas covered in the book were not new to me. What was new was the sad detail of how extensive the oppression has been, and how deeply it's been embedded in out society from the beginning. I highly recommend this book to every citizen of the US, especially white citizens who want to understand our full history -- it's not easy to hear and we won't like it, but we should know it and hold it at the forefront of our mind as we resolve to bring equality to our deliberately unequal society.
waynediane's review against another edition
5.0
I heard a lot of criticism for this book. While I can see some points could be made- this book is excellent looking at it from the African American (Black- you don't have to be born here) to see the hard facts of being judged by the color of your skin. I think, while the focus really is on the black experience, the author does bring in small, but important points of racism- with the Indigenous people, Asians, and other discriminated goods. I THINK THIS BOOK should be required reading for all high schools to get a balance narrative of this country!
I do have one criticism- concerning some of the comments on Abraham Lincoln- He truly dealt with the moral conflict of slavery, way before his presidency- and that is not truly reflected her- probably due to the its major focus.
I do have one criticism- concerning some of the comments on Abraham Lincoln- He truly dealt with the moral conflict of slavery, way before his presidency- and that is not truly reflected her- probably due to the its major focus.