Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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

15 reviews

kristenreads's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Violence, and Hate crime

saffrondunsdon's review against another edition

reflective

5.0

Was an eye opener but not in the white way of idek racism existed but like I have no idea what goes on as a minority in growing up in London. Like the fact I have and probably will never be stopped and searched but it’s so often for many people because of police to have it from childhood is mental. Blame accusation and goes into everything about blackness mixed ness and even asianess arabness and of course every native identity. Why’s it so hard for those conserving whiteness to feel excluded from independence so much so that they created UKIP?? Huh?? UK Independence????? Akala is amazing

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death and Violence

esme_may's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative medium-paced

4.5

Everyone in the UK should read this. It would make a great introduction to reading about race as well, it's petty accessible and the narrative voice is delightfully sarcastic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, Violence, Racial slurs, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Antisemitism, Bullying, Classism, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Genocide, and Blood

Minor: Sexism, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Rape

vampirefwoodstock's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Racial slurs, and Violence

beca_reads's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Murder, Police brutality, Violence, Hate crime, Slavery, Colonisation, Classism, Cursing, Gun violence, and Religious bigotry

anjalasagne's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

3.0

Some great discussion around class and race, especially useful for those just beginning to understand the complex relationship between them. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism and Violence

emcatbee's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Colonisation, and Cursing

Moderate: Antisemitism, Cancer, War, Violence, Trafficking, Rape, and Police brutality

charleygxrl's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

librarianjess's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book was so educational and so thorough. I couldn't put it down. Akala has such an eloquent and emphatic style with his part-autobiography, part-polemic, of racism in the UK.

His book discusses the insidiousness of racism in the UK, but how colourism and racism differs in varying degrees in different countries - tying them altogether. It is true that international events and occurrences in the Commonwealth and the Global South resonated with African and Caribbean communities here in Britain. His book demonstrated how the interconnectedness of the world allowed black Britons to feel connected to black culture, yet so far from it, whilst being racially excluded from their home in the UK.

His accounts of how 'liberal' white people in the UK perpetuate racism continually, and that it is this type of oppression that hits the UK the hardest. One of the parts that intrigued me the most was his discussions and his own personal experiences with racism within the school system. Teachers, and the institution of education itself, holds its hand up to say that the system purposefully disadvantages those of non-white backgrounds, yet equally does nothing about it.

Every single page in this book gave me an extremely poignant and heartbreaking personal account of racism, yet intertwined with statistics and studies that backed up these experiences. Akala is one of many.

This book for me was 5 stars and there is no force on earth that would let me give it any less. I was fully astounded by this book and I am going to read it again and again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Xenophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Violence

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0

This completely lived up to all the glowing reviews I'd seen. I meant to read it last month but didn't get round to it and I'm glad I didn't leave it any longer. Akala's writing is articulate, incisive and witty and he interweaves his lived experience with history so smoothly. He examines the way race and class intersect and builds a clear argument against the common misconception that the UK is a meritocracy. That in particular wasn't news to me but there was so much history here that I knew nothing about, including some fairly recent events. I just read Black and British by David Olusoga and I feel like the two books complement each other very well. I found them both really enlightening, especially in the way they dismantle the myths Britain has built around its history of colonialism and slavery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence