Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire

Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

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

28 reviews

flowingleaves's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

A very interesting part biography, part history book that shines a very important light on many aspects of Britian and its culture and history. The author's experiences were very visceral and you could tell how much they shaped him. The writing was a bit not up to par in some places, but overall it was a very informative and important read.

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thesinginglights's review

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medium-paced

5.0

Akala is one of my favourite thinkers. Clear-eyed, well-informed, and just overall interesting. This is a brilliant blend of Akala's life and the socio-political context that informs him: he being a mixed-race man growing up in London, a fact that made his white mother be disowned by her family.

His story informs aspects of race in the UK from history and concurrently with his life, argued with accessible prose, similar to how he speaks in public. That's part of the draw: it's informative without being overwhelming and speaks deeply and broadly on topics. The one thing I would have liked a bit more of is his reflections on his adult life, of his music career and where he is currently. We get glimpses of it (especially for racial profiling) but the bulk of his personal stuff is from his childhood, especially when he was being a "roadman" in his teens.

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britgirlreading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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lukerik's review

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funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

If Zack de la Rocha were British and wrote a book.

It’s a hard piece of writing to categorise. Political and personal and polemical. It’s almost like a personal work of sociology, properly referenced and with an interesting bibliography. Akala is obviously a very intelligent man with a finely tuned bullshit detector and a laser-like intellect that he turns on some very confusing issues. Thorough, precise, and sensible arguments and he never takes rhetorical shortcuts even when he’s angry. I didn’t agree with all his conclusions, but if we’re all going to agree we may as well give up and stop thinking now. A very thought-provoking book. I often found it sending my mind off at tangents so that reading it is almost like engaging in a dialogue. Also very funny at times.

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jjcantread's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

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strabbyfieldz's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

Akala is a genius, not just for revealing so many striking truths about the dynamics of race and class in society, but weaving it all through a wider exploration of the world, blending his own life experience and auto-biographical writings with wider sociological and political facts. Please read Natives.

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