Reviews tagging 'War'

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith

8 reviews

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Powerful. Compelling. Devastating. I learned a lot I didn’t know about myriad locations around the country (and world) that were and still are institutions of slavery and oppression. There’s a lot to unpack and reckon with about our history as a nation in this book and I think it’s worth the discomfort to know more about the nation’s real history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Colonisation, Gore, Classism, Death, Racial slurs, War, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Child abuse, and Child death

analenegrace's review

challenging informative

I was fortunate enough to meet Clint Smith and get a free signed copy at a university book event over a year ago, but I just now got to reading it. Smith is an amazing writer whose poetry clearly influences his prose, and it is written in such a compelling and beautiful book, even with the difficult subject matter. 

I cannot recommend reading this book, especially if you're trying to deconstruct what racism in America looks like. While there are so many lines I marked as pivotal to the book, the most important comes on page 289 in his epilogue, 

"The history of slavery is the history of the United States. It was not peripheral to our founding; it was central to it. It is not irrelevant to our contemporary society; it created it. This history is in our soil, it is in our policies, and it must, too, be in our memories."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Classism, War, Racism, Genocide, Grief, Violence, Murder, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Trafficking

katiea714's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, War, Violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Confinement, and Cultural appropriation

shieldbearer's review against another edition

dark emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

Thoroughly researched with an extensive bibliography. A must-read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and War

bookedbymadeline's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This is Smith’s first non-fiction, as he usually write poetry which comes through in the writing style of this work. He manages to place you in each of the locations as he describes the weather, the sounds, and the people around him. I learned and unlearned a lot of things from Smith’s book, continuing my education in the real history of the US (and in some cases Europe).

I know I say “this book is important” or “everyone should read this” quite often but if there’s only one book out of all my “should reads” that you grab, pick this one. It’s easily accessible in terms of language and content, not bogged down with information overload. Although it’s a heavy emotional read, it’s a fast read that had me staying awake late into the night.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Racial slurs, Death, Violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape, Child death, Kidnapping, War, and Genocide

Minor: Police brutality

madradstarchild's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, and Hate crime

Moderate: Genocide, Death, Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Confinement

Minor: Child death, War, Torture, Murder, Police brutality, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

caseythereader's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

 - I'm not sure if there's anything I can add to the discussion of HOW THE WORD IS PASSED, other than to concur with everyone that yes, this book is as vital and as good as everyone says it is.
- I learned a lot from this book: even if you're read a lot of history and antiracist literature, there's still more to excavate, and Smith brings it all up.
- Smith's inclusion of his personal experiences while visiting the sites in this book keep it from becoming a dry historical text. It does exactly what the sites are trying to do: bring the past into the present because it has never left us, as much as many of us try to pretend it has. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Rape, Religious bigotry, Torture, and War

cianarae's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Bullying, Slavery, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia