robinks's review against another edition

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informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

I want to hear Davis speak SO BADLY. She so clearly illuminates connections between the international struggles against oppression. Chapter 8 was particularly impactful for me. 

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arayo's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective

4.5


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brynalexa's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

While I love when the author reads their work for an audiobook, I think this one is best read in print. I will be on the lookout for a copy. It was a bit repetitive but otherwise very interesting and helpful. All our struggles are connected and this book gives evidence. 

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grace_b_3's review against another edition

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informative inspiring slow-paced

3.5

This book collects some of Davis’s speeches and essays, alongside interviews with her. Since all of the collected materials are from within the same time period, the book can feel a bit repetitive at times, but a lot of Davis’s points are still impactful.

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rachelfayreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0


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bashsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

This book is incredible - I am going to need my own copy to review and annotate. There were so many different important points that Davis made that I would like to note down, so many quotes that I would like to let mull in my brain, so many connections that are extremely relevant in our current moment - even though most of this text was written around a decade ago. Some key points that resonated with me quite a bit (and that kept coming up) were: the distinction between civil rights and freedom, the idea of what a terrorist is (and the political slant inherent in that word), the way that collectives of black women have long been a force of change in this country, and how to build an international struggle and get people relating to problems that seem abstract and far away. 

If I were only reviewing the text, this would easily be 5 stars. But since I listened to it as an audiobook, I feel like I should point out that the interview section is a bit confusing because it is ALL read by Davis, and sometimes it's difficult to tell when she is reading the interviewer's questions versus her own answers. 

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fromthefoxhole's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

So I listened to the audiobook, and let me say up front: Angela Davis could read me her grocery list and I'd enjoy it. Every word is measured, pronunciations were clearly studied in advance, and her timbre is warm and authoritative. 

4.5 - half star removed mostly because this has multiple chapters that are speeches she has given at various conferences and events. In a few cases I've either watched the speech on YouTube or read it as a one off, and some of the material overlaps in a way that makes it slightly less impactful overall. I think it could also have used a final chapter that acted as a final summarization/call to further education at the very least. 

Despite this slight grievance, I think this book does well in its undertaking to relate struggle across location, gender, race, religion, nationality, or whatever divides humanity might face. Davis utilizes the wealth of own-voices books, movements across history, and anecdotes from her own past to present to the reader a framework within which we can find our foothold as activists. She speaks on trans and queer liberation, the occupation of Palestine, the ongoing struggle of Black people and people of color in the US. She briefly touches on disability rights and mental health institutionalization as well. She never shies away from the fact that there might be more points of intersectionality than previously understood, and I think that openness serves the reader well in providing external context to her works. 

Anyway, I love Angela Davis. I've added so many books from her references here to my own reading list, and I'm excited to get cracking on those.

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annamay1021's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0


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abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced
It seems impossible to rate a work that is this important and that is so textured and layered.

I will say that the audio format made it a bit confusing to distinguish when a question was being posed and when Davis was answering in the interviews, but I loved hearing her narrate her own words. I do think because it’s separate occasions pieced together there is a bit of repetition but I think it mostly works and serves to drive home important points. 

It’s sad because I do remember so clearly the period from which these writings and talks were from: not long after the Occupy movement, on the heels of groundbreaking activism in Ferguson and the heartbreaking loss of more Black lives like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown. And yet this work is more relevant than ever. 

I loved the way Davis drew large connections between global movements, and evoked the history of collective actions behind dismantling segregation, and South African apartheid, while discussing the current state of life in Palestine. I really would love a hard copy or ebook of this to mark up and highlight important passages!

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breandthebooks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

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