Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Caste: The Lies That Divide Us by Isabel Wilkerson

12 reviews

elisalasater's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Medical trauma, and Hate crime

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

grubloved's review against another edition

it spends so much time trying to assure the reader that racism is real that it doesn't actually do any meaningful analysis?? it kind of reads like a baby's first racism primer. weird also that it kind of handwaves the entire existence of every racial group other than black and white; it makes sense once you understand it is specifically a book about antiblack racism in america, but even the book seems confused about what its purpose is, continually claiming to describe an entire system and then only fixating on one aspect -- feels a little shallow. 

also weird that india's caste system is a selling point but is honestly barely present in the book, and that nazi germany is consistently held up as another state creating an underclass (the goal wasn't an underclass of jews. it was no more jews. this is not very analogous to a caste system). 

the alpha wolf chapter was also absolutely atrocious and i think is a really good example of a lot of the problems i had with the text. it was really strange for the book to claim that racism's big downsides are largely that naturally superior people who happen to be in the wrong caste can't assume their rightful place as leaders, and that naturally inferior people who are in the upper caste should be allowed to be ruled by their betters ??? it continually seems to insist that hierarchy is not the problem, but that it is simply a wrong hierarchy and that we should adjust to follow a better natural order. just really really strange to read in a book about racism.

i really enjoyed the pillars of caste section but the rest of it just wasn't the indepth reading i was here for. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Confinement, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Classism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Rape, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Child death, Colonisation, Torture, Racism, and Murder

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. 

---

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

horizonous's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Racism, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Violence, Antisemitism, and Slavery

Moderate: Suicide, Child abuse, Gun violence, and Police brutality

Minor: Genocide, Rape, and Medical content

buttermellow's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Antisemitism, Death, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Grief, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and Rape

Minor: Gun violence and Police brutality

khum's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Police brutality, and Racism

rosapotentis's review against another edition

challenging dark informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Slavery, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Police brutality, and Racism

The book delves unflinchingly into the history of the caste system in the US, from slavery to present day, and much of the content is difficult. The chapter on lynching (chapter 9, The Evil of Silence) is particularly graphic and distressing.

kelseyland's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

A highly informative book that outlines the history of racism in America up to the present day and makes the argument that the embedded, institutionalized mechanisms of racism function like the caste system in India and the framework used in Nazi Germany to commit atrocities and genocide against Jewish people.  An essential foundational text to understanding the deeply embedded nature of racism in America.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Hate crime, Police brutality, Genocide, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and Slavery

thepassivebookworm's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual violence, and Slavery