Reviews

Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala

wee_eck_m's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Such an important book. Hard to follow in places as so many facts and so much history is packed into a small book. But really eye opening and worth a read 

motherofladybirds's review

5.0

I think this is an excellent introduction to UK problems of race and class and the legacies of colonialism.

punchofwishes's review

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

A very insightful reads with a few aspects that didn't gel with me. The mix of autobiography and political history, as the quote on the back calls it, worked better at times than others. I enjoyed hearing the author connect his personal life experiences to the bigger political themes he's covering, but it did lead to a fair amount of repetition and jumping around in time. This was especially noticeable with the topic of apartheid. The writing was solid enough even if I found the lack of sensitivity towards gender inclusive puzzling in a book from 2018. Can we leave "he or she" phrasing in the past please? Aside from the repetition, however, my biggest issue was how the author covered a lot of peripheral topics such as musicians and sports stars. As someone who knows little about both, especially from the 80s and 90s, the lack of context made it a pain to sit through. This was a really educational read and I really appreciated how in-depth it was, but it's not a work without flaws.

matt_viner's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

samstock's review

informative medium-paced

3.5

lottie1803's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

junancollins's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

I learned far more than I thought I would. Some very interesting reflections that I hadn’t considered before and it has certainly given me a newfound perspective. 

nkz21752's review against another edition

challenging dark funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

lilworm's review

informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

hgmmathewrichards99's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.5