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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
This book contained some well-researched, hard "truths" that were really eye-opening (see, poor, oppressed Scottish culture as the root of "rednecks"). This book also contains a lot of problematic rhetoric that is currently the mantra of people hoping to maintain the social status quo (see, "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality). Reading this book made me do a lot of legwork to research the author, and so made me feel more responsible for my relationship to the subject matter. However, I am hesitant to recommend it, since it primarily feels like a rehashing of oppressive excuses.
Absolutely fascinating. I will be rereading this at some point and certainly checking out more of Mr. Sowell’s work.
A surprisingly good book. Not what I was expecting from the title. Lots of good insights, history, and very prophetic for the time that it was written.
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
My friend Matt recommended it. Great listen, and provides a very good perspective on history, and how it’s perceived.
This is pretty interesting. It's a collection of essays about racism in its various forms: the origin of inequality in the US, the role of educational policy in economic outcomes and the position of jews and other "middleman minorities" in societies where they ahve been scapegoated due to their position economic niche.
He uses a really wide lens, comparing different societies in different times and places, putting the standard, american-centric pieties into better context. There's some overlap between the essays but it doesn't feel repetitive or anything. There are a few odd blind-spots though; I wasn't fully convinced by his explanation of how southern, redneck culture grew up and affected modern, black culture, especially where he talks about "redneck" and "cracker" having been common epithets in britain before the founding of America (they weren't: or at least not in the way he's describing) and starting with that seems like it leads him into a slightly simplistic description of why the south developed differently, putting more emphasis in variations between different types of white people rather than different economic conditions.
That's not to say the rest of the analysis is invalid though. He lands some really strong punches against lazy, self-servicing explanations and it's a really good way of shaking up your comfortable notions.
He uses a really wide lens, comparing different societies in different times and places, putting the standard, american-centric pieties into better context. There's some overlap between the essays but it doesn't feel repetitive or anything. There are a few odd blind-spots though; I wasn't fully convinced by his explanation of how southern, redneck culture grew up and affected modern, black culture, especially where he talks about "redneck" and "cracker" having been common epithets in britain before the founding of America (they weren't: or at least not in the way he's describing) and starting with that seems like it leads him into a slightly simplistic description of why the south developed differently, putting more emphasis in variations between different types of white people rather than different economic conditions.
That's not to say the rest of the analysis is invalid though. He lands some really strong punches against lazy, self-servicing explanations and it's a really good way of shaking up your comfortable notions.
Interesting insights, but I was a bit bored with the listing of all the stats.
informative
reflective
A remarkable book that offers an alternative viewpoint on the the development of African American culture that stands in opposition to many of the prevailing visions perpetuated by modern day liberal institutions. Also devotes time to addressing the ubiquity of many cultural and historical events that stand in stark contrast to many of the contemporary narratives surrounding them, such as the history of slavery as being a uniquely Western phenomenon and the cultural development of other impoverished minority groups throughout history in different regions of the world, such as the Germans, Scottish, Jewish, Chinese, Japanese, Indians from India and immigrants from the West Indies in contrast to the development of African American culture
An eye opening book on race and discrimination. Particularly enjoyed the chapter about Jews, Armenians in Ottoman Empire, and Ibos in Nigeria.
slow-paced