Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - The Wretched of the Earth

Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

8 reviews

michaelion's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.75

Amazing. Excellent. Superb.

Historical nonfiction, in my experience, is very repetitive, but here it works. It also works that the books begins (in either the foreword or the preface, idk, 68 pages before we get to the meat of the text is crazy) with whichever writer mentioning that critics of the book have complained that the book doesn't give a good enough blueprint on what revolutionary actions they should take nexts. You fools. You spineless clowns. Fanon literally says over and over here's how the colonizer distracts you and the way forward is not gonna be the same for everyone. The repetition is to show that while every story and its circumstances are different, the root of all their problems come from the same source.

It's depressing that this book published when my grandmother was born (and has since passed) is still relevant to today. I hope it is not relevant by the end of my life time. I hope that people look back at this book as a cautionary tale, a reminder of our history we cannot forget and always, constantly relearn to remember what not to do and how to move forward.

Also kinda fucked up his parents named him Frantz. Sounds like France. Is / Was that a common name?

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katharina90's review

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

A valuable (psycho)analysis of colonialism and decolonial struggle that remains relevant.

At times the writing feels a bit dense. Not sure if it's the translation from French to English, or maybe just the style of a different era that I had a hard time connecting with.

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savvylit's review

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challenging informative slow-paced

4.0

Despite being published about sixty years ago, The Wretched of the Earth is still an incredibly relevant work. Fanon's experience as a resident of Algeria during the French invasion allowed him to envision the myriad obstacles that could and would arise on a people's path to revolution and freedom. This portion of the book, which covers the first two-thirds, is very theory-heavy but enlightening nonetheless.

The last third of The Wretched of the Earth is composed of case studies from Fanon's work as a psychiatrist in Algeria. The case studies cover a range of folks from colonizer to colonized, from youth to elderly, and are a disturbingly fascinating look at how colonization traumatizes everyone. Fanon's case studies demonstrate the fact that to be colonized is to have trauma. This portion demonstrates the need for freedom from occupation in a manner that is both chilling and undeniable. If only we, as a global society, could heed Fanon's call.

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