Scan barcode
grubloved's review against another edition
also weird that india's caste system is a selling point but is honestly barely present in the book, and that nazi germany is consistently held up as another state creating an underclass (the goal wasn't an underclass of jews. it was no more jews. this is not very analogous to a caste system).
the alpha wolf chapter was also absolutely atrocious and i think is a really good example of a lot of the problems i had with the text. it was really strange for the book to claim that racism's big downsides are largely that naturally superior people who happen to be in the wrong caste can't assume their rightful place as leaders, and that naturally inferior people who are in the upper caste should be allowed to be ruled by their betters ??? it continually seems to insist that hierarchy is not the problem, but that it is simply a wrong hierarchy and that we should adjust to follow a better natural order. just really really strange to read in a book about racism.
i really enjoyed the pillars of caste section but the rest of it just wasn't the indepth reading i was here for.
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism
torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Murder, Classism, and Deportation
elly29's review against another edition
4.0
I have a better appreciation for how intrinsic and invested racism is within American society. I think sometimes Wilkerson can be myopic, roundabout in her points, and excessive in her metaphors -- for example, she should've acknowledged earlier that European immigrants, though they themselves might've experienced racism, were able to assimilate after a generation, and she does indeed make the point that that was accomplished through distancing themselves from Black folk. However, her research is thorough, and she brings up many good points and examples about race, class, and caste within the United States. I'm particularly interested in Ambitkar, the Indian equivalent of Martin Luther King, Jr, and in Allison David's and the Gardners' "Deep South," a sociological study of caste while living covertly under it. They were some brave folk.
In terms of the writing, by the time we got to chapters in the twenties, it seemed like it had just become a litany of all the ways in which someone was denied expressing the full measure of their skill and mastery. Which, chapter after chapter, is depressing. The conclusion and epilogue kind of brought it back into analysis and calls to action.
Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Trafficking
annabunce's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder
joremmons's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Police brutality, and Trafficking