Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi
13 reviews
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Death, Murder, Hate crime, Trafficking, War, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Religious bigotry, Classism, and Police brutality
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Genocide, Child abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Transphobia, Pregnancy, Suicide, Pedophilia, Infertility, Mass/school shootings, Antisemitism, Alcohol, Homophobia, and Ableism
stevia333k's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Classism, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Colonisation, Police brutality, Sexism, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Trafficking, War, and Violence
jennie_white2008's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Classism, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Racism, War, Drug use, Police brutality, Violence, Xenophobia, Death, Ableism, Addiction, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Slavery, and Torture
sydapel's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Murder, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, War, Violence, Racism, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Hate crime, Drug use, Mental illness, Torture, Rape, Colonisation, and Sexual assault
gabi_tron's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Murder, Colonisation, Confinement, Police brutality, Racism, Slavery, and Violence
just_one_more_paige's review
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Slavery, Sexism, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
apworden's review
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Xenophobia, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Hate crime
rorikae's review against another edition
4.5
I think this is a perfect piece of introductory literature and to chronicle the changes across these years of history. Since each essay is of similar length, taking up about 10 to 15 minutes in the audiobook version, there isn’t a ton of time to delve deep into each topic, but in that way I think it is the perfect jumping off point for learning more. I believe this would be a perfect piece of literature to be taught in a high school history class that then invites each student to pick the essay or time in history that they found the most compelling to do more research on. There are lots of names and points in history that I know I will be looking up more about spurred on by their inclusion in this collection.
I highly recommend the audiobook. Each essay gets its own narrator and that adds to the community feel of the anthology. This is essential reading and I highly, highly recommend it.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Violence
sherbertwells's review
3.0
“The hero of this drama is Black people. All Black People. The free Blacks; the uncloaked maroons; the Black elite; the preachers and reverends; the doormen and doctors; the sharecroppers and soldiers—they are all protagonists in our epic adventure.
Spoiler alert: the hero of this story does not die.
Ever” (235)
“When we are creating a shared history, what we remember is just as revelatory as what we forget” (4)
“Together, despite the odds, we have made it this far. The powerful essays and poetry in Four Hundred Souls are a testament to how much we have overcome, and how we have managed to do it together, despite our differences and diverse perspectives.
Yet. I am not convinced that we are our ancestors’ wildest dreams. At least not yet” (391)
Graphic: Racism and Slavery
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, and Torture
Minor: Addiction, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
serendipitysbooks's review
5.0
It’s a community history, a compilation of eighty essays, each by a different author. The authors came from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines; this is not a book authored solely by academic historians. Some essays focused on a person, some an event, some an object, others an idea. I loved the variety of topics, styles and voices. Each essay covered a five year period and they were arranged chronologically which gave the book a flow, a sense of historical progression and a cohesiveness. The essays were divided into ten sections, each of which ended with a poem that reflected on the preceding essays. I’ve never seen this done before but I thought it was very effective. The poetry brought a different dimension and I wished some visual arts had been able to be included also.
Another thing that really stood out is the way most, if not all, essays explicitly linked the events of the past with those of the present. This is not a book of dry facts from the past; this is history that clearly explains the present, and sadly indicates the way things have not changed as much as they ought.
It’s very hard to review such a diverse collection. Personally I especially enjoyed the essays that looked at the 1600 and 1700s since it’s a period of US history that I’m less familiar with. Michael Harriot’s essay on the Reconstruction era really stood out because of it’s honest language, language that differs from that found in most history books. They talk about racial unrest; he talks about terror cells and a war being waged to create a white supremist state. Tera W. Hunter’s exploration of the Shermantown neighbourhood also caught my eye.
Four hundred years of history may sound a daunting read but it’s not. All the essays bar one are between 3 and 5 pages, meaning this can easily be read, slowly but steadily, at the rate of one essay per day - a pace that would allow plenty of time for reflection.
Unique and Unmissable.
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Slavery, and Violence