Reviews tagging 'Classism'

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

10 reviews

sakisreads's review against another edition

dark informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

My author friend personally knows the author (!), and it’s a topic I always love to read up on, so I borrowed this one from the library 👏🏼

There were a few quotes that stuck out to me:

When people say ‘But what about [insert injustice here]?’ the response of ‘You have not made an insightful observation by distraction’ was SO powerful 😳

When discussing how media portrays something like tax evasion to gang crime: ‘Rich people crime good, poor people crime bad.’ 

When in discussion about how black people living under apartheid said not nice things about white people: ‘White people’s hurt feelings are conceptually equivalent to black humans’ actual lives.’

Honestly? Incredibly insightful 🗣️ I didn’t know about Cuba having one of the biggest, (and well-maintained) healthcare systems either!

Definitely one to read and digest! 4 out of 5 stars for me, thank you ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Deportation

saskiahill's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Minor: Antisemitism

waybeyondblue's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Classism

Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Cultural appropriation

selimhannah's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Police brutality, and Islamophobia

Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Fire/Fire injury, and Deportation

epellicci's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

I struggled to keep up with some of the history in Natives. There is a lot of it and I’m very bad with keeping timelines organised in my head, so it did make the beginning of this book, where these details are most focused, a little tricky. But that is not a reflection of the writing.
 
 Natives is impassioned, which made it a brilliantly engaging audiobook. Superbly preformed and packed with individual testimony alongside the fact, it presents the human cost of class and racism in a way that could only be ignored by wilful ignorance. I found it reflective, uncomfortable, and engaging. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Slavery, Police brutality, and Classism

Minor: Genocide, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, and Deportation

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

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

Minor: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Slavery

flowingleaves's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

A very interesting part biography, part history book that shines a very important light on many aspects of Britian and its culture and history. The author's experiences were very visceral and you could tell how much they shaped him. The writing was a bit not up to par in some places, but overall it was a very informative and important read. 

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Content Warnings

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

beca_reads's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

britgirlreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Police brutality, Murder, and Classism

lukerik's review against another edition

funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

If Zack de la Rocha were British and wrote a book. 

It’s a hard piece of writing to categorise. Political and personal and polemical. It’s almost like a personal work of sociology, properly referenced and with an interesting bibliography. Akala is obviously a very intelligent man with a finely tuned bullshit detector and a laser-like intellect that he turns on some very confusing issues. Thorough, precise, and sensible arguments and he never takes rhetorical shortcuts even when he’s angry. I didn’t agree with all his conclusions, but if we’re all going to agree we may as well give up and stop thinking now. A very thought-provoking book. I often found it sending my mind off at tangents so that reading it is almost like engaging in a dialogue. Also very funny at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Colonisation, and Classism