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readandfindout's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.25
Style/writing: 3.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Perspective: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Perspective: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Murder, and Colonisation
noonjinx's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Really good. I learned a little about the slave trade at school in the 1970s but there’s a whole lot of myth busting and extra history here that was completely new to me. The book made me depressed, frustrated and angry, but never bored. The quotes from the defenders of slavery and the racist establishment even beyond WWII were particularly horrifying.
Olusoga’s writing is wonderfully vivid which stops all of the quotations and historique reference from weighing the narrative down. I listened to the audio version and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s narration is perfect too (as always).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery
thorbrand's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Wow wow wow wow. Everyone should read this wonderful, informative, lively, fascinating book. I can't even imagine the amount of research that went into this book and I'm immensely grateful to Olusoga for doing it. This is definitely one that I'll revisit on future, maybe a chapter here and there to remind myself. The only thing I found difficult about it (other than some of the horrific facts and stories, obviously, of which there are many) is how long it is - not a criticism of the book at all, because it's all killer no filler and I get the impression that it could have been twice or three times as long. More a criticism of myself and my inability to stick with historical tomes - but I did it, and feel all the more informed for it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Sexual violence and Injury/Injury detail
readingelli's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
5.0
Brilliantly researched, very informative and well written for a lay audience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, and Colonisation
Moderate: Death and War
wetsokcs's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
aliceintheuk4's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Wow. Just wow. David Olusoga has taken such an expansive and important topic and really done it justice in under 600 pages. Having watched ‘A House Through Time’ I knew he had a beautiful way of narrating the past, but this book is something else. Utterly heartbreaking, eye opening even for someone like me who considers themselves quite aware of Britain’s racist and downright evil history, Black and British is a must read for any Brit, regardless of beliefs. Such an important book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, and War
lochanreads's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Black and British was a huge undertaking, a book it took me over 2 months to read! But in the end, I’m so glad I committed to finishing it and I believe it to be successful in its aim of reinforcing the narrative that Black British history is a significant part of our national heritage and it is a history that concerns all of us.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Violence
labeanorita's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Trafficking
Moderate: Death, Police brutality, Trafficking, Murder, and Colonisation
miniando's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Torture
michaelsbirthday's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.75
A behemoth of a book, but well, well, well worth the read for anyone who wants to educate themselves on British history and the deserved place of black people within it, Britain's role in the slave trade, the abolition of slavery and the advent of modern racism.
A resounding strength of the book is the continuity that David Olusoga weaves through the vast periods of history that are covered. I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion on attitudes in Britain and Europe towards African people during the Middle Ages, and how these views were shaped by the unreachable quality of the continent in these times. Olusoga expertly demonstrates how medieval fantasies and presumptions endured and slowly morphed into views of racial superiority in the Elizabethan and Georgian eras, through which 'scientific' theories on race and eventually modern racism could emerge.
The bulk of this mammoth text is taken up discussing the slave trade in Georgian and Victorian Britain and the abolitionist movement. Olusoga makes a compelling case for why Black British history should be viewed as a global history, exploring beyond Britain and diving into British connections to the lives and experience of black people in North America, the Caribbean and Africa (particularly Freetown, Sierra Leone).
However, I do feel that this global narrative is partly where the book falls short of all it could offer, as we lose something of the stories of black individuals and communities in this internationalised, far-reaching view. Perhaps this would not be so much of a problem if, in Olusoga's lengthy discussion on the abolitionist movement, he focused more on black actors than white; Granville Sharpe's role was of course an important one, but he rather takes the role of the 'hero' of abolitionism in Olusoga's narrative. The surviving historical record is, of course, one that has literally, deliberately and systemically been whitewashed, but perhaps a book entitled 'Black and British' ought to have more closely examined the primary record that we do have from and about black people (Olaudah Equiano's autobiography, as a readily available example).
I also feel that the book was slightly lacking at each of its historical (and physical) ends. While Olusoga painstakingly slogs through Georgian and Victorian Britain, comparatively little time is spent on black and Roman Britain, and he practically races through the decades of the 20th Century. He shares his reticence to write about modern history explicitly, particularly periods which he himself has lived through, but I still think the book could have benefitted from a deeper examination of more contemporary black British history and experience.
Overall, the book is phenomenally well-researched, engagingly written and illuminating - and thoroughly recommended.
A resounding strength of the book is the continuity that David Olusoga weaves through the vast periods of history that are covered. I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion on attitudes in Britain and Europe towards African people during the Middle Ages, and how these views were shaped by the unreachable quality of the continent in these times. Olusoga expertly demonstrates how medieval fantasies and presumptions endured and slowly morphed into views of racial superiority in the Elizabethan and Georgian eras, through which 'scientific' theories on race and eventually modern racism could emerge.
The bulk of this mammoth text is taken up discussing the slave trade in Georgian and Victorian Britain and the abolitionist movement. Olusoga makes a compelling case for why Black British history should be viewed as a global history, exploring beyond Britain and diving into British connections to the lives and experience of black people in North America, the Caribbean and Africa (particularly Freetown, Sierra Leone).
However, I do feel that this global narrative is partly where the book falls short of all it could offer, as we lose something of the stories of black individuals and communities in this internationalised, far-reaching view. Perhaps this would not be so much of a problem if, in Olusoga's lengthy discussion on the abolitionist movement, he focused more on black actors than white; Granville Sharpe's role was of course an important one, but he rather takes the role of the 'hero' of abolitionism in Olusoga's narrative. The surviving historical record is, of course, one that has literally, deliberately and systemically been whitewashed, but perhaps a book entitled 'Black and British' ought to have more closely examined the primary record that we do have from and about black people (Olaudah Equiano's autobiography, as a readily available example).
I also feel that the book was slightly lacking at each of its historical (and physical) ends. While Olusoga painstakingly slogs through Georgian and Victorian Britain, comparatively little time is spent on black and Roman Britain, and he practically races through the decades of the 20th Century. He shares his reticence to write about modern history explicitly, particularly periods which he himself has lived through, but I still think the book could have benefitted from a deeper examination of more contemporary black British history and experience.
Overall, the book is phenomenally well-researched, engagingly written and illuminating - and thoroughly recommended.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Slavery
Moderate: Sexual violence
Minor: Racial slurs