Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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

31 reviews

lrm11's review

challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Violence

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Slavery, Trafficking, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Grief, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Gun violence, and Sexual violence

xwritingstoriesx's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Grief, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, and Racism

hunkydory's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Police brutality

andsoitgoes's review against another edition

5.0

This is an excellent history of America. It's content and frame of reference are unique in the historical literature and it expertly fills a long-timeline black history void that has been missing from the core reading cannon for upper high school / lower college. If you are a history teacher looking for a sub section, or someone who doesn't want to read all in one go, each chapter is self contained and covers a timeframe from 1619 to modern day. The chapters are by topic. I recommend Race, Sugar, Citizenship, and Justice if you are looking for topics not often covered elsewhere.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Violence, Racism, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Police brutality, Sexual assault, and Rape

Moderate: Kidnapping

audreylee's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

This was an artistic endeavor as well as a literary achievement. However, although I read the whole book, I did not come across the information that made people lose their ever lovin' minds. What exactly is so radical about this book? The information in this book can be found in multiple other sources. I actually found the bits on music one of the most fascinating as it described the ambivalence of consumers and creators surrounding musical roots. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, and Violence

mysterymom40's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Racism, Violence, Death, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Torture, Slavery, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Police brutality, Child death, Colonisation, and Forced institutionalization

kimveach's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

A book blogger suggested that this is a great audiobook. I'm afraid I have to disagree. The authors read the essays; unfortunately, not all authors are great narrators. The performances of the poems would be the exception. After nearly falling asleep while driving the car, I decided to try reading it another way. Thankfully, Kindle had a sale that included both the written and audio versions of the book.

The essays are enlightening and contain the history I wish I had learned in school.

While there have been criticisms, I feel this New York Times response best describes the purpose of the book. "The very premise of The 1619 Project, in fact, is that many of the inequalities that continue to afflict the nation are a direct result of the unhealed wound created by 250 years of slavery and an additional century of second-class citizenship and white-supremacist terrorism inflicted on black people (together, those two periods account for 88 percent of our history since 1619). These inequalities were the starting point of our project — the facts that, to take just a few examples, black men are nearly six times as likely to wind up in prison as white men, or that black women are three times as likely to die in childbirth as white women, or that the median family wealth for white people is $171,000, compared with just $17,600 for black people. The rampant discrimination that black people continue to face across nearly every aspect of American life suggests that neither the framework of the Constitution nor the strenuous efforts of political leaders in the past and the present, both white and black, has yet been able to achieve the democratic ideals of the founding for all Americans."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Blood, Confinement, Deportation, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Violence, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Death of parent, Grief, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and War

afreeby's review

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, Classism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Slavery, Murder, Sexism, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Death

lettuce_read's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence