Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

56 reviews

plethora's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Isabel Wilkerson expertly presents the reality of North America in an unmistakable new light through drawing connections to both India’s and Germany’s caste systems. In a stark, honest, and objective compilation of historical events around the world, Wilkerson shows America who they are, and leaves the reader to decide what to do about it.

I have not experienced such an enlightening reframing of cultural norms since Chanel Miller’s “Know My Name”. Every person in the western world, and perhaps beyond, can benefit greatly by reading this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Moderate: Ableism, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, War, and Classism

genevakelly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, and Murder

cal_the_queer's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

alerasaul0's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

it's a tough read, the chapters where she describes the ways caste is upheld and then gives multiple examples of how modern America did these things is stomach churning. 
Isabel is not flinching in her critiques of racism and how it is upheld but also has hope for us to fix things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Antisemitism, and Classism

useyourgoodeye's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

This book took me 16 days to read because I had to step away from it a lot to process it fully. Very eye opening and there is a movie out called Origin about the book that I'll be watching soon (Hulu). This is a very difficult and emotional book to get through. It requires you to examine your own life and the lives of others at a level which can make you uncomfortable, sad, and angry. Totally worth it though. It should be used in colleges across the world as required reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional informative slow-paced

2.75

I’m unsure why this book has become so popular. The theory the author puts forth is somewhat incoherent and is held together by a bunch of anecdata. I’m glad I read it so that I can be aware of its presence in the zeitgeist, but I got very little of the actual content. The author contends her little with colonization in her book, which I feel is a huge absence. She seems like the kind of person who wants to “save the soul” of America, when I’m over here shouting #landback. At the end she gives an impassioned plea for everyone to just be exposed to the true nature of US history, that that would cause everyone to wake up and fight for justice. I really don’t think that’s the case.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Abortion, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Casteism

adriennegg's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Essential reading for everyone!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, and Gaslighting

cnjg88's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Deportation

hannahwinston's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

Whatever you think you know about the origins of racism/classism/caste, this book goes even further.

While I knew a lot about the American Caste, I did not know how much it influenced Nazis. There were several lines that blew my mind but this one, about selling souvenirs from lynchings during the Jim Crow Era, knocked me off my feet:

“This was singularly American. Even the Nazis did not stoop to selling souvenirs of Auschwitz, wrote time magazine many years later.”

The biggest takeaway/reminder:

“Evil asks little of the dominant caste other than to sit back and do nothing. All that it needs from bystanders is their silent complicity in the evil committed on their behalf.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

readandfindout's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

4.0

Style/writing: 3.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Perspective: 4 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Misogyny