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Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi
4 reviews
stevia333k's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Classism, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Colonisation, Police brutality, Sexism, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Trafficking, War, and Violence
steveatwaywords's review
4.75
Widely researched (though awkwardly cited with difficult-to-navigate and unmarked end notes), nearly every essay hints at still deeper scholarship to be revealed. I say "nearly every essay" because this is one of two concerns I had about the project:
1) While I am not certain of the directives given the various writers, not each approached the task with equal devotion to scholarship. I expected (and desired) analysis and judgments to accompany the topics and, especially in the earlier essays, these appeared, solidly built upon documented evidence. In a few (fortunately quite few) cases, however, there was more judgment than analysis and more still than documented detail. This was frustrating, as the tone for the book had been set by more focused historians earlier. But when the rhetoric grew powerful in place of scholarship, the interest in learning waned. In my view, it undermined the credibility of the collection as a whole.
2) My other concern is not truly that. As large as the collection is (80-odd brief essays with 10 poems), it is yet incredibly brief, barely skimming the richness and nuanced diversity of narratives we have of black history. In other words, I found myself reading the work as an introduction to larger studies (some completed or underway by the writers), or as a first volume, perhaps, to another few thousand which might still be written. To be sure, this is hardly a criticism but a printing limitation; but to that end, I would have appreciated a section which pushed readers to more serious scholarship out there on its topics. The brief writer bio entries at the end were in this way somewhat helpful, but not reliably focused on expanding the reader's experience.
Still, as I purge my bookshelf of over 5000 titles, <i>Four Hundred Souls</i> will stay, because it a volume I am confident to return.
Graphic: Death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Violence, and Racism
The nature of the history of black Americans is rife with abusive treatment. These historians do not flinch from discussing it where relevant; however, each is treated factually as essential to its topic and never gratuitously.sherbertwells's review
3.0
“The hero of this drama is Black people. All Black People. The free Blacks; the uncloaked maroons; the Black elite; the preachers and reverends; the doormen and doctors; the sharecroppers and soldiers—they are all protagonists in our epic adventure.
Spoiler alert: the hero of this story does not die.
Ever” (235)
“When we are creating a shared history, what we remember is just as revelatory as what we forget” (4)
“Together, despite the odds, we have made it this far. The powerful essays and poetry in Four Hundred Souls are a testament to how much we have overcome, and how we have managed to do it together, despite our differences and diverse perspectives.
Yet. I am not convinced that we are our ancestors’ wildest dreams. At least not yet” (391)
Graphic: Racism and Slavery
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, and Torture
Minor: Addiction, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
nicknelson07's review
5.0
Graphic: Death, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Violence