Reviews

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

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

bookmarking's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

Made me laugh out loud, as well as feel incredibly sad and angry. He covers so much history and context in a way that is relevant. However, the book is a little dated now (which t was published in 2018) and so the final chapter seems quite out of touch. Audible performance was excellent too, if you are considering the audio book. 

taffycloud's review

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is a MUST read. This book has opened my eyes to the British (and American) Empire, media and our “heroes” to learn not to take what we see at first glance. There's no other way to say it, read this book !!