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A review by laphenix
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
2.0
I love Dr. Kendi's choice to follow five historical leaders throughout the journey, but the book nonetheless read as a series of chronological facts, and I never came to feel engaged. We need more books boldly shedding light on the uncomfortable to look at side of our American history; our history books, and media have been whitewashed for far too long.
Our history books particularly are egregiously, and outrageously flawed, retold first in the perspective of the victor, and ever after to bolster the values and agenda of those in power. I hoped to find this book thoughtful, objective, and thoroughly researched.
However, Dr. Kendi's apocryphal depiction of Harriet Beecher-Stowe, give me pause, and for me, calls into question whether or not Dr. Kendi researched source information, or instead reiterated the words of popular historians, and voices on the subject. (Harriet Beecher-Stowe, though vocal in the emancipation of slaves, undoubtedly held racist views. Her character Topsy, in the is a clear representation of her belief that Africans and Blacks, are born with wild or animalistic tendencies. however, Uncle Tom was written to be as a Christ-like figure, shown to be strong, young and brave, a hero accepting punishment meant for his peers. Without copyright laws to protect the installments that compose what we now know as her novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, the public eagerly carved into a "more palatable" hero for whites: old, feeble, and subservient; the image now summoned to mind when we talk about Uncle Toms, and to this day, the most common image still represented on the book covers.)
The book finished on a powerful, encouraging, and in the lightning note.
Our history books particularly are egregiously, and outrageously flawed, retold first in the perspective of the victor, and ever after to bolster the values and agenda of those in power. I hoped to find this book thoughtful, objective, and thoroughly researched.
However, Dr. Kendi's apocryphal depiction of Harriet Beecher-Stowe, give me pause, and for me, calls into question whether or not Dr. Kendi researched source information, or instead reiterated the words of popular historians, and voices on the subject. (Harriet Beecher-Stowe, though vocal in the emancipation of slaves, undoubtedly held racist views. Her character Topsy, in the is a clear representation of her belief that Africans and Blacks, are born with wild or animalistic tendencies. however, Uncle Tom was written to be as a Christ-like figure, shown to be strong, young and brave, a hero accepting punishment meant for his peers. Without copyright laws to protect the installments that compose what we now know as her novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, the public eagerly carved into a "more palatable" hero for whites: old, feeble, and subservient; the image now summoned to mind when we talk about Uncle Toms, and to this day, the most common image still represented on the book covers.)
The book finished on a powerful, encouraging, and in the lightning note.