Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

49 reviews

lpfoley's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

A really brilliant take on the history of what it means to be Black in America and the social constructs that create and perpetuate oppression. Accessible, thorough, and inviting, Wilkerson walks the line between calling out the behaviors and attitudes that have created what she designated as a caste system in the US as well as discussing the broader pressures at work to sustain it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Genocide, Violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Medical trauma, and Hate crime

shoshin's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Sometimes, it's easiest to understand what is happening around you by finding a way to step outside it to describe it. Wilkerson does that brilliantly with this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Genocide, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism and Classism

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Misogyny, Deportation, Antisemitism, Child death, Police brutality, Slavery, and Xenophobia

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

"A world without caste would set everyone free."

People have been recommending this book to me for ages--I've even included it on many book displays--and now I know why. This truly should be required reading in America along with Stamped from the Beginning. The term racism really doesn't go far enough to explain this country's ills, but the argument that Wilkerson lays out for caste does. I learned so much and feel like this book really filled a lot of the gaps in my knowledge. Wilkerson does such an amazing job explaining such difficult phenomena in an accessible way, and now I feel like I need to buy a physical copy so I can reread it and mark things I want to remember and come back to later. This is one of those books that you continue to think about long after you finish it.

I also have to say I LOVE how the whole way through the abuse of Black people in America is compared to Jews in the Holocaust. I can imagine so many people HATE that comparison and think it goes way too far, and that's precisely why I love it. It goes exactly far enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Genocide, and Antisemitism

arthur_harris's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

This book pulls absolutely no punches. It lays out the facts of its subject matter with a kind of frank, unflinching look at the truth that is so constantly softened and blunted in history. Deeply, grimly informative on the true history of the Black experience in the United States. A harsh reality check for those - like me - who grew up with a whitewashed view of American history. While this book is a difficult read in many ways, that is part of what makes it such a necessary one. It forces the reader to examine the deeply ingrained racism baked into the foundation of America, and the subsequent role of the (non-Black) reader in that racist system. An absolutely vital piece of literature. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Police brutality, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Colonisation, Slavery, Blood, Medical trauma, Racism, Child death, and Murder

jess_westhafer's review against another edition

I felt like I got everything out of this book I was going to in the pages I read. The ideas started to seem redundant, and I didn’t feel the need to keep going. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Antisemitism, Violence, Slavery, and Torture

pollyflorence's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Violence, Slavery, Genocide, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, and Racism

youreawizardjerry's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Physical abuse, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Blood, Bullying, Body horror, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Death, and Death of parent

madradstarchild's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Racism

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Islamophobia, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Hate crime, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Genocide, Sexism, and Homophobia

Minor: War, Drug use, Classism, Ableism, Racial slurs, Rape, and Colonisation

jenniferbbookdragon's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

 America's racism has established a caste system, and this examination of the similarities between the US, India, and Nazi Germany is powerful and compelling. Using this framework to address history as well as current societal and political issues makes for book that will make the reader reconsider what they think they know about why individuals and groups act the way they do around race.
Well researched without being dry, and including the author's experience as an African-American woman, it isn't a quick read due to the need to process the material. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Slavery, War, Antisemitism, and Classism