Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne

4 reviews

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This book is brutal, gory, and completely depressing. It chronicles the aggressive settlement of native lands by white people, the political violence the tribes enacted in response and also sua sponte, and the slow vanishing of native culture. It's compulsively readable - Gwynne goes back and forth between decades, smartly telling history through the lens of different actors - and incredibly informative. This is a period of U.S. history that I don't know much about (which is obviously intentional by the education system) and it was all very interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Addiction

gfmetz's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, and Trafficking

Minor: Slavery

lareads36's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

I can see how this popular culture book could reach more people than historical monographs. 

Overall the author recounts and makes the history come alive. At one point though, I felt he was renunerating atrocities on both sides too much.

the sixth impaled baby didn't have as much impact as the first five.

 

I will say however, I had been led to believe this was less history and more fiction. Inside not feeling that way reading it. Given my research, he glossed over a couple of points but didn't embellish. He does mention that Goodnight was the sole proprietor of the canyon when we know he was a part owner with financial backing from JA. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Colonisation, and War

brandiereadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail