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achingallover's review
4.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Racism, and Racial slurs
spinescens's review
5.0
Graphic: Slavery, Physical abuse, Torture, and Racism
Moderate: Racial slurs
writtenontheflyleaves's review
4.25
🌟🌟🌟🌟
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🗝 The concept: David Olusoga sets out to unlock the loooooong history of the British Isles’ relationship to Africa and the Caribbean, and what it has meant to be black and British over the centuries.
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This book taught me so many things I didn’t know and filled in so many of the gaps in my understanding of British history. It was fascinating to see how Britain’s understanding of Africa as a geographical and cultural entity evolved over time, and considering how bored I usually am by any history or literature from before the 18th century (being generous - the 20th, being less generous), I found myself really engaged in these sections.
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What stood out to me most in my reading is that there is no one story of race in Britain. I don’t mean in a “both sides” way, I mean in the way that progression and justice are never a straight line. I was amazed at the depth and scale of the atrocities that Britain committed and our limitless hypocrisy - I was also amazed at the moments of solidarity and the genuine sense of ethical obligation that fought back against them. I think it’s easy to get sunk in this idea that Britain is and has always been one way, that its racism is intrinsic and cannot be routed. This serves the racist institutions and politicians that are invested in this narrative, entities that I saw contextualised throughout this book. In conjunction with my other reading and as a springboard for my future reading I found this book stirring and hopeful.
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📖 Read it if, like me, you don’t know a lot about British history - particularly the slave trade and its abolition is fleshed out in detail!
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🚫 Avoid it if you’re already pretty well-versed in the above, or if you want a deeper analysis, especially of blackness in modern Britain. Olusoga admits that to tell a complete story he has to sacrifice a deeply-nuanced portrayal in some areas, and the later sections move much more quickly. The strength of this book definitely lies in its illumination of Britain up to the end of the 19th century.
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Reading tip! This is a big book, and I found it helped to break it down by reading a chapter a day.
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Racial slurs
nell216's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Slavery and Violence
Minor: Sexual violence
adamjeffson's review
4.0
Graphic: Hate crime, Xenophobia, Slavery, Sexual violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Physical abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Death
katymaryreads's review
5.0
This book is a perfect illustration of how the past shapes the present, for good and bad. How colonialism and the attitude that the white man is superior shape the racism of today. But also how centuries of history shape the many black communities in Britain today, and how many black people made Britain their home in the past, and how their children and grandchildren and however-many-greats grandchildren are British.
This book looked at the big picture -thousands of people kidnapped and sold into slavery, for example - but also focused down to individuals and their stories.
A must for anyone who wants an antidote to the white-washed history many of us were taught, and who wants to understand more of the multiracial and multicultural Britain we live in today.
Moderate: Hate crime, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Xenophobia
tashayns's review
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Racial slurs, and Slavery
Moderate: Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Violence
cerilouisereads's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, Murder, Hate crime, and Death
Racial slurs appear in historic quotes. Descriptions of treatment of slaves and other examples of racial violencequestingnotcoasting's review
4.0
That makes for a long, detailed book which I've been reading gradually over the last few months because there's so much to take in. The history itself is both horrific and fascinating, but it's also important to note the subtitle. This is history which has often been deliberately erased, evident in the way Britain has downplayed its role in the slave trade and colonialism and focused on its role in abolition.
After reading Stamped From The Beginning earlier in the year and now this I feel like I've got a much better grasp on Black history in both the UK and the USA and understand how events in the two countries are connected.
Graphic: Racism and Slavery
Moderate: Hate crime, Police brutality, Violence, and Xenophobia
emilistevenson's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Racism, Trafficking, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia