Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

This was a lot. Was it a very important read and worth it yes. Did I sometimes feel dumb reading this yes. Most of the topics discussed are horrible so trigger warning. This book made me mad and sad. I do think people should read this, but it is basically a history book so I don’t know how assessable this would be for everyone. I do understand why it went through the whole history of slavery, but I don’t know as much about that so it was harder to I guess understand, but when we got more in the current day I was able to understand and like connect the dots more.

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ashleyreads88's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America needs to be read. I learned so many things from this book that I never learned in school. What I learned in school was unfortunately horribly whitewashed. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America IS American history. I am so glad that I read this challenging (in the best way possible) book. I feel that this is a book that I will come back to.

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kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

This book takes us from our nation’s inception through the presidency of Barack Obama. It highlights three main race ideologies and explicates about each one over the decades. Segregationists, those who believe Black folx are genetically inferior and don’t believe in equality; assimilationists, who believe that Black people need to try harder to become better people (aka more white); and antiracists, who believe that systems of inequality and discrimination have always been the culprit of inequity in American society. This book points out that both segregationists and assimilationists are racist, even if the latter would try to have you believe otherwise. I learned a lot about our country’s history, policies, and leaders that will help inform my continued efforts to be antiracist moving forward and will help me focus on Black freedom in this country and beyond.

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meganpbennett's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

Stamped from the Beginning is one of those books that you need to read, but you don't necessarily want to read. It's a slow, hard read, and it encourages (White) readers to look at their own thoughts, their own biases, to see what racist ideas they might fall into, whether or not they realize that the ideas or thoughts are racist. It makes people think about being antiracist, as opposed to simply being not racist, and yes, there is a difference. The book also looks at intersectionality and how multiple types and levels of oppression can 'intersect' and cause problems, and how the intersection of oppression can lead to more oppression of various groups.

My only complaint about Stamped is how Kendi introduces the reader to people. He will describe the person, saying where they were from, maybe what job they held, and why they are important in the moment they are mentioned. Only then will he name the person. Most of those paragraphs would have been much more powerful had the person in question been identified in the first sentence, instead of in the second or third sentence.

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rupl's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

Dense, detailed look at US history from a lens completely overlooked in the US school system. You'll brush with basic facts you learned long ago, but their rich stories might be completely new. This book calmly yet passionately tells another US history, using five major characters to guide us through various eras.

I learned new parts of history and re-learned many others, all the while learning not to characterize individuals, but each of their actions. The book compiles countless examples of segregation, assimilation, and finally antiracism, from fleeting moments to entire legacies of individuals. By methodically reading from start to finish, and looking at example after example of each ideology I formed a better, more accurate view of history as it relates to power, racist policy erected to protect the powerful, and the racist ideas that get created in order to defend racist policies.

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