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A review by tri_lo_bite
A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in America by Allyson Hobbs
4.0
Read for the Read Harder 2021 prompt: Read a work of investigative nonfiction by an author of color
I asked my librarian for advice for this prompt and this is the book they gave me!
It was a very interesting and enlightening history of racial passing in America, which I knew nothing about going into the book. The book spanned from the antebellum period to the Civil Rights movement, and dipped its toe into the 21st century in the epilogue. I learned so much, and honestly wish there was more depth to some of the stories, which I know is hard with little first hand accounts.
I will say, the chapter about Harlem seemed a little shoehorned in, less about passing and more biographies?
4 stars.
TW: racism, sexism, antisemitism, KKK, lynching, slavery, discussions of war, separation from family
I asked my librarian for advice for this prompt and this is the book they gave me!
It was a very interesting and enlightening history of racial passing in America, which I knew nothing about going into the book. The book spanned from the antebellum period to the Civil Rights movement, and dipped its toe into the 21st century in the epilogue. I learned so much, and honestly wish there was more depth to some of the stories, which I know is hard with little first hand accounts.
I will say, the chapter about Harlem seemed a little shoehorned in, less about passing and more biographies?
4 stars.
TW: racism, sexism, antisemitism, KKK, lynching, slavery, discussions of war, separation from family