Reviews with content warning for Racism - The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones

44 reviews

readandfindout's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Perspective: 4.5 stars

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guinness74's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

Anything that I would write about this book would grossly underestimate and, truthfully, tarnish the reality of its importance. It would be impossible to read this book and not see that Black America (and make no mistake that there is definitely a different nation for Black people) has been denied, again and again, the right, the ability, the power, to make itself equal on any terms that White America sets forth. More often than not, it is White America that places the stumbling blocks, rather than the stepping stones. I urge you to read this book, particularly if you are White, so that you understand the whys and hows of Black America and the inability of this nation to say that it has achieved anywhere near racial equality.

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3littlewordz's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

This work was a necessary undertaking, and I am glad that the New York Times backed Nikole Hannah Jones in bringing this work to fruition. I read this with a book club, and the discussions we had on each chapter were enlightening, even when we had to calm ourselves from getting angry because of the subject matter. The essays provide a comprehensive introduction to race and racism in the United States and how it is baked into nearly every institution in the country (it’s also been exported worldwide, but that’s another topic entirely.). I will say that I don’t think readers should stop at this work, but explore the references provided at the end of the book. Also, I think near the end, several of the chapters were waaaaay too short for their subject matter (Traffic and Healthcare, for example). The poems and short stories could have also been a separate book entirely. They were amazing pieces that deserve shine! Highly recommend.

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kengiedamali's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

it does what it came to do

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passionatereader78's review

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emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

A journey through African American history in the United States. Starting with slavery up until present.

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jaygabler's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

5.0

(Thank you Random House for the free book.) More than just a book, “The 1619 Project” is an engrossing and transformative elucidation of the necessity to stop sanitizing U.S. history for the comfort of the privileged. The term “essential read” gets thrown around a lot, but here it actually applies.

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lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

This is a collection of essays that are well worth reading, and cover the many contributions made by enslaved people and later by the freed Black people to America, whether economic, medical, religious, and the arts. It is really unfortunate that a lot of this will be new information to people due to the white washing of history that is taught in a lot of schools. Some of the essays are very hard to read due to the content, but it is important to know what really happened with the horrible ways Black people were enslaved, punished, or killed just for "succeeding" in life, because without understanding and acknowledging that, we cannot begin to move forward in reconciliation and reparations. The ramifications of what happened in 1619 are still echoing down through the centuries today and influencing vast aspects of American life. Some of the early history essays covered familiar ground for me (Government BA with a lot of History classes), so I personally enjoyed more the topics on Medicine, religion, art, etc, but there are some excellent essays there for people less familiar with that early history. And even so, I still learned from those early essays. The only reason I don't give this a full 5 stars is that a few of the essays did feel a bit repetitive, covering essentially the same ground. A few essays felt a bit too short and I wished they had been expanded.

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