Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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

30 reviews

kurtwombat's review

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

5.0

 

This staggering work seeks to reset our understanding of slavery and its lingering aftermath—to take our limited view of history and expand it dramatically—like an empty balloon suddenly filled. It does so with a collection of essays that approach our American history and our American present from many different angles—political, economic, geographic, psychological, sociological etc. The essays are bridged by recollections and poetry and short fiction that act as palate cleansers before the plunge into the next demanding chapter.  I listened to the 18+ hour audiobook and enjoyed the different voices—especially when the bridges were performed. The spoken narration drew me out of myself and I believe I was more receptive to the information. The bridges reaffirmed what the chapters had to say or prefaced what was to come.  The essays themselves vary in quality and impact but as a collection 1619 packs quite a wallop—alternately inspiring outrage and sadness but always inspiring. I understand the desire to add this to school curriculums—and even to create entire courses around it (I think in some form or another it should be in every school until our educational system improves enough to grow beyond it)—but I would encourage close monitoring for younger readers. Some of this material, making up the fabric of our nation, covers the worst of what humanity is capable—horrific  brutality the thread of which still runs through today.  Indeed much of the impact comes from blending the intimate with the big picture—looking into the eyes of history. I see this book as kind of a solution guide. I knew there was a puzzle and I could see some of the pieces and suspected there were others but I had no idea how many or how they all fit together. If you doubt the need for such a book, take a look at a few of the one star reviews—filled with the kind of negative passion born of ignorance and fear. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Violence, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Rape, Child abuse, Confinement, Police brutality, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Racism, Slavery, and Torture

A fantastic must read by all Americans. Suggest pre-high schoolers read with parental supervision.

alphawolfe13's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

It is an informative and enlightening book. In my opinion the writing can be a little repetitive to the point I feel like I'm reading previous chapters. I would have preferred a chronological dive into events and how they shaped history over bouncing from topic to topic. Otherwise, I'm excited to use this in my classroom in order to better help students understand the black experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Rape, Bullying, and Slavery

Moderate: Suicide, Cursing, Torture, Racial slurs, and Racism

chelscola's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Murder, Slavery, Violence, Colonisation, Hate crime, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

mentalish's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Slavery, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Torture, Rape, Trafficking, and Racial slurs

tlaynejones's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Classism, Police brutality, Rape, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Gaslighting, Deportation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Violence, Sexual violence, and Torture

readandfindout's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Hate crime, Torture, War, Physical abuse, Death, Murder, Colonisation, Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault

guinness74's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, and Violence

3littlewordz's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Police brutality, Slavery, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Violence, and War

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Classism, Gun violence, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting

jaygabler's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Violence and Sexual violence

(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.

lrm11's review

challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Violence