Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

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

6 reviews

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

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

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

sarahaf712's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and Xenophobia

Infanticide

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

skudiklier's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book is one of the most important things you could read right now. Clint Smith visits places like plantations, prisons, and New York City to see how different sites and organizations are dealing with their history of slavery and racism. He connects the past to the present, and shows how this country was founded and built on slavery, and how this inequality continues on. And he shows how critical it is that we change the way we teach children about slavery, and the stories we tell about slavery and the United States.

While the book deals with serious historical topics, it is also a story about his personal experiences visiting these places, and it flows like a narrative in many ways. Smith is a beautiful writer and poet, and this book is never dry or boring in any way. I felt fully captivated by it in a way that feels rare in nonfiction (outside of memoirs).

I learned so much from this book—so much that I wish was taught to me in school, that I wish was taught to everyone. I learned history that informs my opinions on mass incarceration, the Civil War, constitutional law, Wall Street, the Emancipation Proclamation, capitalism, colonization, and more. I took a lot of notes (and screenshots) while reading this book, and I don't know where to begin trying to include them in a review like this. But here are a couple quotes that stood out to me:

"oppression is never about humanity or lack thereof. It is, and always has been, about power."

"In 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Black Americans owned only 0.5 percent of the total wealth in the United States. Today, that number has barely increased: Black people own about 1-1.5 percent of the nation's wealth. Despite the role Black Americans played in generating this country's wealth, they don't have access to the vast majority of it."

"I do not yet have all the words to discuss a crime that is still unfolding."

I normally say things like "people interested in (blank) should read this," or, "I would highly recommend this book to anyone," but this time I'm going to directly recommend this book to you. You, specifically, whoever is reading this—you should read How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith, as soon as possible. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for the chance to review this ARC. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Antisemitism, Bullying, Confinement, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault