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

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

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

36 reviews

meganlikesreading's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

A really well written book which reflects on the concepts of race and class through both a personal and informative lense, giving readers an insight into Akala’s own experiences with the two topics, often in an interweaving sense as the two major societal concepts work together to give power and privilege to some, and simultaneously disempower and disenfranchise many.

This has only resulted in the extreme issues of inequality and inequity that we have seen throughout history and will continue to see if change is not made where needed.

Akala’s writing style is very fitting, as he introduces these complex historical events in a way that contextualises them and makes the reader think about their own position in society, and how that impacts themselves and those around them.

4.5 stars; would definitely recommend for its important reflection on racism and classism and their prominence in British society and the lasting impact of the British empire.

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waybeyondblue's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

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selimhannah's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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ruthmoog's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

I learned so much from this book, but also found sometimes when stats were me tioned they were used or selected persuasively rather than reflecting the whole picture.
Nonetheless I am in agreement with Akalas views and enjoyed hearing from him about a range of black global experience.

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epellicci's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

I struggled to keep up with some of the history in Natives. There is a lot of it and I’m very bad with keeping timelines organised in my head, so it did make the beginning of this book, where these details are most focused, a little tricky. But that is not a reflection of the writing.

Natives is impassioned, which made it a brilliantly engaging audiobook. Superbly preformed and packed with individual testimony alongside the fact, it presents the human cost of class and racism in a way that could only be ignored by wilful ignorance. I found it reflective, uncomfortable, and engaging.

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lindsaylhunter's review

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challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

I've read this book twice now, for two separate book clubs, and it's as informative and important the second time around as it was the first, maybe even more so. What a thing to have written. Akala presents his life experiences in an incredibly lucid, sharp way. Should be essential reading.

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kristenreads's review

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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juliston's review against another edition

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informative inspiring slow-paced

4.25

You can't talk about racism and white privilege without talking about class, and this book does an excellent job of dissecting some of the issues surrounding the myths that pit the 'white working class' against people of colour.

(An aside, for those that think they're 'not racist but what about poor white people': if you genuinely cared about poor people you'd stop voting for Tory governments)

This is a hard book! Not just hard to do the learning as a white person raised by one parent who was raised white and privileged in apartheid south Africa and one who attended some of the most exclusive educational establishments in the country. Not just hard to be faced with some pretty difficult to swallow gaps being filled in in British, evidently very racist, history but also genuinely a hard book to read.
I don't mean it's badly written, it isnt at all. The prose is engaging and easy to follow, but fuck me this guy is so much cleverer than me. I am by my own admission very smart, very good at reading and have nearly a decade of higher education under my belt, and I'm still having to look up words from this book. I'm having to look up a lot of dates for historical events too. To be fair, that probably stems from my own abysmal knowledge of world history. When I was supposed to be learning history in school I was a lot more interested in shrinking my body and learning to smoke cigarettes (both pasttimes I thankfully rarely indulge in now) and I have never really bothered to rectify these gaping holes in my knowledge.

Reading Natives was an active process of learning for me. It is a fantastic, eye opening book. Both packed with an incredible amount of historical information (there are 30 full pages of references and notes at the end) and also deeply personal and moving. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for some additional perspective on their British history, for anyone that thinks British people are white by default, or for anyone that thinks white privilege doesn't apply to poor people.

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eatwritereadrepeat's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.75

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esme_may's review

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challenging emotional funny informative medium-paced

4.5

Everyone in the UK should read this. It would make a great introduction to reading about race as well, it's petty accessible and the narrative voice is delightfully sarcastic

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