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Reviews tagging 'Racism'
Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton
9 reviews
youngwessels's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Maud Newton does a great job of discerning and interpolating her family history while not spending too long on any one topic.
The last 50 or so pages take a bit of a left turn as she explores and eventually accepts the heritage equivalent of healing crystals, but otherwise a good read.
The last 50 or so pages take a bit of a left turn as she explores and eventually accepts the heritage equivalent of healing crystals, but otherwise a good read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Racism
rly's review
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault
angelintherye's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
I’m glad I read this book. Using her own family’s history and her experience researching that history, Maud Newton explores what it means to be descended from other human beings. She goes into detail about how things work like genealogy and DNA testing and the ethical concerns that come with it.
She grapples with being a white person on colonized land and descending from people who actively contributed to colonization and genocide and enslaved other people- I wish that the book had dedicated more time to talking about how to live with that truth and reparations but it also talked about those topics more than I feared it would when I started.
Lastly, she goes into the spiritual side of looking into our ancestors from a refreshingly balanced perspective of someone with religious Christian trauma, fear of appropriation, and also openness to the unknown.
I also think this last section could have been a whole book on its own and I would read a sequel if she delved further into either topics (this or the reparations).
She grapples with being a white person on colonized land and descending from people who actively contributed to colonization and genocide and enslaved other people- I wish that the book had dedicated more time to talking about how to live with that truth and reparations but it also talked about those topics more than I feared it would when I started.
Lastly, she goes into the spiritual side of looking into our ancestors from a refreshingly balanced perspective of someone with religious Christian trauma, fear of appropriation, and also openness to the unknown.
I also think this last section could have been a whole book on its own and I would read a sequel if she delved further into either topics (this or the reparations).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, and Racism
Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Sexual assault
jaygabler's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
Newton touches on some essential questions: how to understand our relationship to our ancestors in a world where we can test our own DNA and connect it to a growing database, how to reckon with the legacy of white supremacy and the erasure it’s wrought. That said, this might have worked better as a long essay than a book. We’re asked to spend a lot of time tracking the details of the author’s extended family history, and with such a wide-ranging text the payoff gets diluted. Her immediate family story is so striking and sad, to use it as a hook for such a large amount of information (epigenetics, spirituality, ancient history) undercuts the structure of this vital but sprawling meditation.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Racism
reallycooper's review
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Misogyny
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death, Colonisation, Slavery, and Classism
knkoch's review
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
3.75
This complex, sprawling examination of the personal and universal act of ancestral exploration is a heavy undertaking. Maud Newton delves into her family genealogy, along with extensive research from diverse perspectives including neuroscience, Christianity, history, spirituality, and non-Western approaches to ancestral reverence. She fully acknowledges the darkness inherent in a white Southern woman’s genealogical research, and does not shy away from the connections she uncovers to racism, slavery, and dispossession of Native lands. That was what initially drew me to her book; I was interested in her reckoning with dark family history. Genealogy is usually presented as a fun or interesting personal history project, and I like that Newton does not duck away from painful findings.
I found this book a little unwieldy because it was so broad. It was harder to get through than I expected. I found the examination of DNA collection/genealogy site practices (23andMe, Ancestry.com) and personal family stories she uncovers most interesting. The neuroscience review was least interesting to me, and most of what I took from the chapters on epigenetics and intergenerational genetic influence was that the research into what exactly we inherit from our forebears is really mixed and rather inconclusive. But that could be due to inattentiveness on my part!
Overall, I did find myself significantly more interested in my own ancestral history, and the ways some traits, features, and habits replicate inevitably (if more anecdotally than statistically, at this point in the research we have) through many generations.
I found this book a little unwieldy because it was so broad. It was harder to get through than I expected. I found the examination of DNA collection/genealogy site practices (23andMe, Ancestry.com) and personal family stories she uncovers most interesting. The neuroscience review was least interesting to me, and most of what I took from the chapters on epigenetics and intergenerational genetic influence was that the research into what exactly we inherit from our forebears is really mixed and rather inconclusive. But that could be due to inattentiveness on my part!
Overall, I did find myself significantly more interested in my own ancestral history, and the ways some traits, features, and habits replicate inevitably (if more anecdotally than statistically, at this point in the research we have) through many generations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Physical abuse and Sexual assault
The author’s father is extremely racist, and though the author is no longer in contact with him, he features heavily through stories and reflections as the author grapples with her childhood experience.sshabein's review
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book is an outstanding mixture of memoir and research. Coming from a family who has roots in both the South and New England (and also Miami, though my parents are not the same generation Newton is), parts of this felt familiar to me. Both sides of my family also have an appreciation for family history, though in recent memory, we do not have full-on dedicated genealogists. There are the oft-repeated stories, and lots of people in my ancestry liked to travel around, and I think some of that comes from an urge to see what's out there. So even though I don't know the names/dates of everyone off the top of my head, I definitely understand the urge to sift through one's past looking for insight about the present.
I also appreciated Newton's willingness to confront both her own family's racism and relate it to broader histories of how the U.S. came to be. She also contemplates how she might begin to make amends for her ancestor's behavior. I don't know that a lot of other people, particularly those doing it from a more, let's say, church-affiliated perspective, are willing to do that hard work. White people, in general, are good at what Newton identifies as willful naiveté about our history, both personal and cultural. I hope that this book leads to a lot of good discussion and thoughtful change in how we handle our histories, that we can't ignore the more troublesome things in exchange for some charming anecdotes. Genetics and upbringing are complicated subjects for anyone, but by seeing a throughline, we can better understand ourselves, and we can aim toward some form of peace.
I also appreciated Newton's willingness to confront both her own family's racism and relate it to broader histories of how the U.S. came to be. She also contemplates how she might begin to make amends for her ancestor's behavior. I don't know that a lot of other people, particularly those doing it from a more, let's say, church-affiliated perspective, are willing to do that hard work. White people, in general, are good at what Newton identifies as willful naiveté about our history, both personal and cultural. I hope that this book leads to a lot of good discussion and thoughtful change in how we handle our histories, that we can't ignore the more troublesome things in exchange for some charming anecdotes. Genetics and upbringing are complicated subjects for anyone, but by seeing a throughline, we can better understand ourselves, and we can aim toward some form of peace.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Child death
Moderate: Sexual assault and Animal cruelty
campbelle177's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Child abuse
rachelcoconut's review
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Child abuse
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