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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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Colonisation, and Classism
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Violence
jjcantread's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
strabbyfieldz's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
Akala is a genius, not just for revealing so many striking truths about the dynamics of race and class in society, but weaving it all through a wider exploration of the world, blending his own life experience and auto-biographical writings with wider sociological and political facts. Please read Natives.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
Just want to clarify when I say the book includes racial slurs / racism, the book itself is not racist, but the things it includes and discusses bring up racism slurs and talking points in order to refute them. This is not one of those ridiculous 'reverse racism' things where I pretend I'm oppressed as a white person because someone brings up how I benefit from being white - sorry if that was worded poorly.emcatbee's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Cancer, Rape, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Trafficking, and War
charleygxrl's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Police brutality
alicia_c's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
chl0b1's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
rinnfoskey's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
booksjessreads'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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Police brutality, and Murder
Moderate: Violence