Reviews tagging 'Death'

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

34 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

overthinkereading's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

"What would it take - what does it take - for you to confront a false history even if it means shattering the stories you have been told throughout your life?"

How the Word is Passed fundamentally is a shattering of many stories, both those of the official record and those of legend and lore, in pursuit of the truth at the core of United States history: that slavery was central to our founding and is inextricable from every aspect of historical and contemporary American life.

Despite the (for some, painful) deconstruction inherent in Smith's work, he takes great care with presenting his research and experiences. It is obvious he brings a level of humanity, compassion, and artistry amid this reckoning, and even during the most harrowing passages of the book, his writing is profoundly beautiful.  (His experience as a poet is evident especially in descriptions of place).

To answer the question, "What would it take to confront our false history?" we ought to start here, with this book. Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Murder, Violence, Death, Racial slurs, Torture, Sexual violence, Racism, Colonisation, Classism, and Police brutality

maevedora's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Grief, Death, Colonisation, Slavery, Torture, Confinement, and Racism

nishapan's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Trafficking, Death, Racial slurs, and Slavery

wifeslife's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Genocide, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Child death, Death, Deportation, Violence, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Racism

brynalexa's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Poetic, powerful, and thought-provoking. Filled in some gaps in my education while inspiring me to seek out more information on the world’s cruel history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, Bullying, Torture, Violence, Child death, Colonisation, Grief, Kidnapping, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Genocide, Hate crime, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia

amsswim's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I very much encourage everyone to read or listen to this book. Follow the author to important heritage sites to the legacy of slavery through the US and beyond; plantations, prisons, confederate cemeteries.  Made me very reflective on random interactions I have had over the years and how the people in my family history may have interacted. The content is graphic and unflinching, which is entirely necessary. It is also one of the best written non-fiction books I have read, I believe because you are going on a journey with the author. I am unable to summarize so much of one amazing book, so I am just going to say again read it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Violence, Trafficking, Racism, Confinement, Murder, Racial slurs, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Slavery, Sexual violence, and Rape

jaiari12's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Racism, Classism, Police brutality, Violence, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Racial slurs

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

heatherilene's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Sexual assault, Classism, Racism, Violence, Slavery, Child death, and Confinement