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amandasbookreview's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
5.0
“Until Americans replace mythology with history, until Americans unveil and halt the progression of racism, an arc of the American universe will keep bending toward injustice.”
THE 1619 PROJECT
I started The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones a couple months ago. Normally when I pick up a book I don’t pause. I don’t read other books in between. This book is a massive piece of journalism with more than one author. It is filled with primary sources and analyses the social, political, and economic injustices against Black Americans. So I read a section at a time, looked into the sources provided, and looked up the other contributing authors. The beginning introduces the arrival of enslaved Africans to Virginia in 1619. The publication date of this piece? –2019, 400 years after the first enslaved peoples arrived. The Pilgrims arrived in 1620. Just with the evidence of this date, The 1619 Project encourages the United States to review and acknowledge our history, not beginning with The Pilgrims but acknowledging the injustice laid on Black Americans and their contribution to our society in the face of slavery and racism that still exists today.
While Nikole Hannah-Jones developed this piece, it also has the contributions of several other authors, many of whose works I have read, and many of whose works that I need to read. The co-authors and contributors are Dorothy Roberts, Kahil Gibran Muhammad, Leslie Alexander, Michelle Alexander, Tiya Miles, Matthew Desmond, Jamelle Bouie, Martha S. Jones, Carol Anderson, Bryan Stevenson, Trymaine Lee, Linda Villarosa, Anthea Butler, Wesley Morris, Jeneen Interlandi, Kevin M. Kruse, Ibram K. Kendi, Jason Reynolds, Clint Smith, Sonia Sanchez, Gregory Pardlo, Kiese Laymon, Patricia Smith, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Joshua Bennet, Natasha Tretheway, Camille T. Dungy, Rita Dove, Terry McMillan, Danez Smith, A. Van Jordan, Jasmine Mans, Yaa Gyasi, Forrest Hamer, Evie Shockley, Tracey K. Smith, ZZ Packer, Darryl Pickney, Lynn Nottage, Cornelius Eady, Tim Siebles, Tyehimba Jess, Jesmyn Ward, Barry Jenkins, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Robert Jones Jr., Eve L. Ewing, Yusef Komunyakaa, Terrance Hayes, Honoree Fanonne Jeffers, Nikkey Finney, Vievee Francis, and Claudia Rankine.
This is not an opinion piece. This is history, the true history, that many would like to see ignored. There is fear in accepting the truth. So many have criticized this book without even reading it, without looking at the evidence, despite the fact that the evidence has always been there. This piece also draws parallels from the dawn of the revolution to today’s politics. It discusses racism, and the policies that freed the enslaved but made sure that they could not rise were kept down by segregation and were not given the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They discuss how law enforcement policies were actually inspired by Slave Patrols-units that were formed to hunt down runaway slaves. They discuss how the Black body is automatically seen as criminal and therefore more subject to imprisonment and execution. This piece discusses everything from traffic laws and how white people opposed the MARTA in Georgia. Systematic racism has been embedded in every aspect of our society.
But there is hope.
While Nikole Hannah-Jones developed this piece, it also has the contributions of several other authors, many of whose works I have read, and many of whose works that I need to read. The co-authors and contributors are Dorothy Roberts, Kahil Gibran Muhammad, Leslie Alexander, Michelle Alexander, Tiya Miles, Matthew Desmond, Jamelle Bouie, Martha S. Jones, Carol Anderson, Bryan Stevenson, Trymaine Lee, Linda Villarosa, Anthea Butler, Wesley Morris, Jeneen Interlandi, Kevin M. Kruse, Ibram K. Kendi, Jason Reynolds, Clint Smith, Sonia Sanchez, Gregory Pardlo, Kiese Laymon, Patricia Smith, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Joshua Bennet, Natasha Tretheway, Camille T. Dungy, Rita Dove, Terry McMillan, Danez Smith, A. Van Jordan, Jasmine Mans, Yaa Gyasi, Forrest Hamer, Evie Shockley, Tracey K. Smith, ZZ Packer, Darryl Pickney, Lynn Nottage, Cornelius Eady, Tim Siebles, Tyehimba Jess, Jesmyn Ward, Barry Jenkins, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Robert Jones Jr., Eve L. Ewing, Yusef Komunyakaa, Terrance Hayes, Honoree Fanonne Jeffers, Nikkey Finney, Vievee Francis, and Claudia Rankine.
This is not an opinion piece. This is history, the true history, that many would like to see ignored. There is fear in accepting the truth. So many have criticized this book without even reading it, without looking at the evidence, despite the fact that the evidence has always been there. This piece also draws parallels from the dawn of the revolution to today’s politics. It discusses racism, and the policies that freed the enslaved but made sure that they could not rise were kept down by segregation and were not given the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They discuss how law enforcement policies were actually inspired by Slave Patrols-units that were formed to hunt down runaway slaves. They discuss how the Black body is automatically seen as criminal and therefore more subject to imprisonment and execution. This piece discusses everything from traffic laws and how white people opposed the MARTA in Georgia. Systematic racism has been embedded in every aspect of our society.
But there is hope.
“If we are truly a great nation, the truth cannot destroy us.”
THE 1619 PROJECT
The book concludes with what needs to be done in order to become the great nation that we claim to be. A great nation would acknowledge our history and make reparations and laws to atone for the injustice and make sure it never happens again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Trafficking, Violence, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
purplepenning's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This is definitely not the anti-American screed I was told to expect, and you should certainly read it. Maybe more than once. The audiobook is also excellent if you want to pump it directly into your ears.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, Death, Torture, Racism, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Slavery, Violence, Hate crime, Trafficking, Medical trauma, and Grief
Moderate: Rape, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, War, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Deadnaming, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
kshertz's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
This book gets 5 stars for the research alone. The sheer volume of contributors is amazing. I learned so very much from this book. I am eternally grateful for everyone who put this book together to teach me the history I should have gotten in school but did not. I hope to pay it forward, teaching others and changing hearts and minds that also don’t know or have this information. It’s fantastic. Highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Minor: Classism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Racism, Racial slurs, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War
franklola's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Medical content, Police brutality, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Murder, Slavery, Suicide, Grief, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Violence, and War
amandalorianxo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
This is the history book that needs to be read across the world. Hauntingly powerful in the most informative way possible. History needs to be reflective of those that were and still are affected by the conquerors of the world. People don’t want us to read this because of the image it paints about history as a whole. History has been startlingly from the beginning of the time and we can’t shy away from the reality we call life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Racial slurs, and Racism
beccaruthe's review
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Death, Hate crime, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Racial slurs, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Sexual violence
Minor: Abortion and Cultural appropriation
bandysbooks's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
The history of America told from the perspective of Black historians. While the history itself wasn’t entirely new to me, the perspectives provided really challenged me to think about some of the misconceptions I held regarding the history of this nation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Colonisation, War, Grief, Sexual assault, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Racial slurs, Classism, Medical trauma, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence
skitch41's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
One of my favorite scenes in my favorite Indiana Jones movie, The Last Crusade, is the moment when Henry Jones, Sr., played by the legendary screen actor Sean Connery, is being slapped around by the Nazi colonel demanding to know where Jones’s Holy Grail Diary is. But when the colonel asks, “What does the diary tell you that it doesn’t tell us?”, Jones grabs the colonel’s hand before he can slap him again and says, “It tells me that goose-stepping morons life yourself should try reading books instead of burning them!” I bring that scene up in the context of this book review because, as of this writing, scores of “parent groups” across the United States are trying to force public schools and libraries to remove books about BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ topics from their shelves. This particular book has been at the center of many of these efforts ever since the first articles of this project were published in The New York Times Magazine in August 2019. Having just finished this book, I have to say that it is one of the best books about American history that I have read in a long time. The authors and editors of this book make the best case for why Black Americans’s 400+ year freedom struggle should be at the center of how we tell the story of America, and, to paraphrase Henry Jones, Sr., people must read this book instead of trying to ban it.
For my full review, check out my blog here.
For my full review, check out my blog here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery and Racism
Moderate: Racial slurs and Violence
Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault
smblanc1793's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
This book is something of a mirror image to the history myself (and many like me, I imagine) were taught in school. And yet it is so piercing and unrestrained that it forces you to reevaluate which set of stories are the reflection and which the reality. It is certainly not a light read—not in any sense of the word. Packed full of all the history we’re trained from an early age to ignore, which gives it both physical and emotional weight.
The majority of this collection is made up of essays, sometimes written with a quasi-poetic lilt, but mainly stark and to-the-point as is the convention for this kind of writing. It does, at times, get repetitive, but only because history itself is repetitive. Because the events within repeat and repeat under new names, and those they affect never completely break that cycle of suffering. There is something powerful in that alone.
But it is the stories and poems within, I think, that save this book from feeling too much like a history textbook—not that there’s anything wrong with a straightforward history. But these pieces of creative work, often imagining and chronicling the feelings of those who experienced slavery and oppression firsthand, add the right touch of emotion, of connection back to the level of the individual that often gets lost in stories as vast as this one. The book as a whole is powerful and painful and important, and I am glad I read it.
The majority of this collection is made up of essays, sometimes written with a quasi-poetic lilt, but mainly stark and to-the-point as is the convention for this kind of writing. It does, at times, get repetitive, but only because history itself is repetitive. Because the events within repeat and repeat under new names, and those they affect never completely break that cycle of suffering. There is something powerful in that alone.
But it is the stories and poems within, I think, that save this book from feeling too much like a history textbook—not that there’s anything wrong with a straightforward history. But these pieces of creative work, often imagining and chronicling the feelings of those who experienced slavery and oppression firsthand, add the right touch of emotion, of connection back to the level of the individual that often gets lost in stories as vast as this one. The book as a whole is powerful and painful and important, and I am glad I read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Xenophobia, Racism, and Slavery
mmccombs's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
This was kind of a mixed bag for me, but I think on the whole this is a very strong introductory piece to relearning and questioning the mythology that surrounds the US’s founding and history. I enjoyed the way it was organized and how approachable it is, I was spooked looking at the size of it thinking it’d read like a textbook. But the writing was clear and the connecting links between all of its chapters were strong.
However, I often felt like chapters were missing things and that some were just weaker than others. I also noticed some glaring absences especially when thinking about these issues through an intersectional lens. There’s a lot of focus on Black men, less focus on women, and basically no acknowledgement of LGBTQ+ folks, disabled people, Afro-Indigenous people, and many other intersections, which I felt weakened some of this work’s thesis. Personally, I also kept waiting for the book to make that extra push towards critically addressing capitalism, class, and abolition, but that might just be beyond the scope of this project (I also think that by framing slavery as the foundation of the US, rather than capitalism, would produce this [fairly simplistic] work. I think that’s the point, but I would have loved to have seen these authors make a much clearer link between the two. Cause without one I don’t think you’d have the other in the US). I think I’d recommend this as an intro to understanding the current impacts of slavery on the US, but I do think there are other books/authors who approach this general theme with a more critical, nuanced, and deep angle.
However, I often felt like chapters were missing things and that some were just weaker than others. I also noticed some glaring absences especially when thinking about these issues through an intersectional lens. There’s a lot of focus on Black men, less focus on women, and basically no acknowledgement of LGBTQ+ folks, disabled people, Afro-Indigenous people, and many other intersections, which I felt weakened some of this work’s thesis. Personally, I also kept waiting for the book to make that extra push towards critically addressing capitalism, class, and abolition, but that might just be beyond the scope of this project (I also think that by framing slavery as the foundation of the US, rather than capitalism, would produce this [fairly simplistic] work. I think that’s the point, but I would have loved to have seen these authors make a much clearer link between the two. Cause without one I don’t think you’d have the other in the US). I think I’d recommend this as an intro to understanding the current impacts of slavery on the US, but I do think there are other books/authors who approach this general theme with a more critical, nuanced, and deep angle.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Medical trauma