Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

97 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional informative slow-paced

2.75

I’m unsure why this book has become so popular. The theory the author puts forth is somewhat incoherent and is held together by a bunch of anecdata. I’m glad I read it so that I can be aware of its presence in the zeitgeist, but I got very little of the actual content. The author contends her little with colonization in her book, which I feel is a huge absence. She seems like the kind of person who wants to “save the soul” of America, when I’m over here shouting #landback. At the end she gives an impassioned plea for everyone to just be exposed to the true nature of US history, that that would cause everyone to wake up and fight for justice. I really don’t think that’s the case.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Classism, Antisemitism, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Rape, War, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Minor: Colonisation, Addiction, Abortion, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Drug use

Casteism

hexedmaiden's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Slavery

chaoticnostalgia's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Death, Child abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, Classism, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Hate crime, Police brutality, Suicide, War, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Sexism

Minor: Mass/school shootings

kelley016's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Slavery, Hate crime, Death, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail

makiba's review

challenging informative sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Slavery, Murder, Physical abuse, and Death

Minor: Suicide

cnjg88's review

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Antisemitism, Racial slurs, Murder, Gun violence, Rape, Violence, War, Classism, Xenophobia, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Racism, Pedophilia, Hate crime, Gaslighting, and Death

Moderate: Cursing, Car accident, Blood, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Deportation, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Domestic abuse

readwithandreina's review

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racism, Xenophobia, Slavery, Police brutality, and War

hannahwinston's review

challenging informative reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

Whatever you think you know about the origins of racism/classism/caste, this book goes even further.

While I knew a lot about the American Caste, I did not know how much it influenced Nazis. There were several lines that blew my mind but this one, about selling souvenirs from lynchings during the Jim Crow Era, knocked me off my feet:

“This was singularly American. Even the Nazis did not stoop to selling souvenirs of Auschwitz, wrote time magazine many years later.”

The biggest takeaway/reminder:

“Evil asks little of the dominant caste other than to sit back and do nothing. All that it needs from bystanders is their silent complicity in the evil committed on their behalf.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Kidnapping, Slavery, Antisemitism, Physical abuse, Racism, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Classism, Confinement, Torture, and Colonisation

elizas's review

challenging dark informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Racism, Police brutality, Hate crime, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Slavery

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and Racism