Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by New York Times Company, Nikole Hannah-Jones

20 reviews

kurtwombat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

 

This staggering work seeks to reset our understanding of slavery and its lingering aftermath—to take our limited view of history and expand it dramatically—like an empty balloon suddenly filled. It does so with a collection of essays that approach our American history and our American present from many different angles—political, economic, geographic, psychological, sociological etc. The essays are bridged by recollections and poetry and short fiction that act as palate cleansers before the plunge into the next demanding chapter.  I listened to the 18+ hour audiobook and enjoyed the different voices—especially when the bridges were performed. The spoken narration drew me out of myself and I believe I was more receptive to the information. The bridges reaffirmed what the chapters had to say or prefaced what was to come.  The essays themselves vary in quality and impact but as a collection 1619 packs quite a wallop—alternately inspiring outrage and sadness but always inspiring. I understand the desire to add this to school curriculums—and even to create entire courses around it (I think in some form or another it should be in every school until our educational system improves enough to grow beyond it)—but I would encourage close monitoring for younger readers. Some of this material, making up the fabric of our nation, covers the worst of what humanity is capable—horrific  brutality the thread of which still runs through today.  Indeed much of the impact comes from blending the intimate with the big picture—looking into the eyes of history. I see this book as kind of a solution guide. I knew there was a puzzle and I could see some of the pieces and suspected there were others but I had no idea how many or how they all fit together. If you doubt the need for such a book, take a look at a few of the one star reviews—filled with the kind of negative passion born of ignorance and fear. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Violence, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Rape, Child abuse, Confinement, Police brutality, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Racism, Slavery, and Torture

A fantastic must read by all Americans. Suggest pre-high schoolers read with parental supervision.

lmfry's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Genocide, Police brutality, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Trafficking, Slavery, Rape, Racism, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Islamophobia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Child abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

frawst_disasta_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.25

I did find parts of this book dragged when I already knew something.  While I enjoyed how the book was laud out, I think I found it jarring on occasion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Slavery

Moderate: Hate crime, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Slavery, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

chelscola's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Murder, Slavery, Violence, Colonisation, Hate crime, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

tlaynejones's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Classism, Police brutality, Rape, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Gaslighting, Deportation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Violence, Sexual violence, and Torture

readandfindout's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Perspective: 4.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Hate crime, Torture, War, Physical abuse, Death, Murder, Colonisation, Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault

3littlewordz's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

This work was a necessary undertaking, and I am glad that the New York Times backed Nikole Hannah Jones in bringing this work to fruition. I read this with a book club, and the discussions we had on each chapter were enlightening, even when we had to calm ourselves from getting angry because of the subject matter. The essays provide a comprehensive introduction to race and racism in the United States and how it is baked into nearly every institution in the country (it’s also been exported worldwide, but that’s another topic entirely.). I will say that I don’t think readers should stop at this work, but explore the references provided at the end of the book. Also, I think near the end, several of the chapters were waaaaay too short for their subject matter (Traffic and Healthcare, for example). The poems and short stories could have also been a separate book entirely. They were amazing pieces that deserve shine! Highly recommend.  

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Police brutality, Slavery, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Violence, and War

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Classism, Gun violence, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting

jaygabler's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

5.0

(Thank you Random House for the free book.) More than just a book, “The 1619 Project” is an engrossing and transformative elucidation of the necessity to stop sanitizing U.S. history for the comfort of the privileged. The term “essential read” gets thrown around a lot, but here it actually applies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Violence and Sexual violence

(Thank you Random House for the free book.) More than just a book, “The 1619 Project” is an engrossing and transformative elucidation of the necessity to stop sanitizing U.S. history for the comfort of the privileged. The term “essential read” gets thrown around a lot, but here it actually applies.

lilacs_book_bower's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

This is a collection of essays that are well worth reading, and cover the many contributions made by enslaved people and later by the freed Black people to America, whether economic, medical, religious, and the arts.  It is really unfortunate that a lot of this will be new information to people due to the white washing of history that is taught in a lot of schools.  Some of the essays are very hard to read due to the content, but it is important to know what really happened with the horrible ways Black people were enslaved, punished, or killed just for "succeeding" in life, because without understanding and acknowledging that, we cannot begin to move forward in reconciliation and reparations.  The ramifications of what happened in 1619 are still echoing down through the centuries today and influencing vast aspects of American life.  Some of the early history essays covered familiar ground for me (Government BA with a lot of History classes), so I personally enjoyed more the topics on Medicine, religion, art, etc, but there are some excellent essays there for people less familiar with that early history.  And even so, I still learned from those early essays.  The only reason I don't give this a full 5 stars is that a few of the essays did feel a bit repetitive, covering essentially the same ground.  A few essays felt a bit too short and I wished they had been expanded. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Slavery, Trafficking, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Grief, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Gun violence, and Sexual violence

andsoitgoes's review against another edition

5.0

This is an excellent history of America. It's content and frame of reference are unique in the historical literature and it expertly fills a long-timeline black history void that has been missing from the core reading cannon for upper high school / lower college. If you are a history teacher looking for a sub section, or someone who doesn't want to read all in one go, each chapter is self contained and covers a timeframe from 1619 to modern day. The chapters are by topic. I recommend Race, Sugar, Citizenship, and Justice if you are looking for topics not often covered elsewhere.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Violence, Racism, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Police brutality, Sexual assault, and Rape

Moderate: Kidnapping