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medusa_glitches's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
kingabee's review against another edition
5.0
This is obviously not a cheerful read but, oh, so enlightening. It’s another piece of the puzzle that’s my knowledge of the British history, although I doubt this will be on the citizenship test.
I’m not going to rehash the contents of this book in this review, as many people have already done this, and this would be mammoth of a task, given the scope of this book.
The issue I found very interesting and which Olusoga devoted a lot of time to was the legal conundrum that the English hypocrisy locked them into. See, the English didn’t want the sin of slavery in their country, but they were happy with it in their faraway colonies. This, of course, presented a serious legal problem, when slave owners came to visit the home country and brought their slaves with them to a place where owning people was not a thing. It will be no spoiler to say the English never successfully resolved this issue, until they finally did away with slavery completely (something they curiously feel very proud of, considering the only reason they had to abolish it was because they really got the thing going in the first place).
I also learnt a lot about the rise and fall of ports in West Africa where the tragic process used to begin and how the changing societal attitudes towards slavery affected them. Olusoga also spends a lot of time tracking chicken and egg question of racism and slavery. Was it racism that allowed slavery to happen, or was racism invented later to justify the immorality of slavery? A little bit of both, I suppose, but insane racist theories were definitely invented and spread by people whom it served.
Speaking of vicious racists, I was surprised to see Thomas Carlyle Wikipedia page make no mention of it. Or at least that was the case back in March 2022, when I was reading this book. I’m happy to report that thanks to user Sinopecynic (if I understand the wiki edit history correctly) you can read all about Carlyle's disgusting views.
Olusoga did an amazing job recovering this history for us, filling the gaps wherever he could – a very hard task when trying to catalogue history of people purposedly excluded from it.
Other interesting topics covered that I would like to explore more were the treatment of black GI in Britain (and how white GI had a hard time accepting that outside of their country black people weren’t treated as subhuman), the strong link between the cotton industry built on slavery and the industrial revolution, and the first big wave of black immigrants from the Caribbean to the UK post World War II. Here I remember feeling particularly infuriated reading about some man (whose name I forgot and whose name is best forgotten) explaining on some TV talk show in the 60s (I think?) about what a danger to the society mixed race babies are, and how they are sure to have many genetic problems etc (rich coming from a country with a completely inbred royal family). Being pregnant with such a baby at the time of reading this I got so angry I dreamt of going back in time and punching that man in the face, maybe repeatedly.
I’m not going to rehash the contents of this book in this review, as many people have already done this, and this would be mammoth of a task, given the scope of this book.
The issue I found very interesting and which Olusoga devoted a lot of time to was the legal conundrum that the English hypocrisy locked them into. See, the English didn’t want the sin of slavery in their country, but they were happy with it in their faraway colonies. This, of course, presented a serious legal problem, when slave owners came to visit the home country and brought their slaves with them to a place where owning people was not a thing. It will be no spoiler to say the English never successfully resolved this issue, until they finally did away with slavery completely (something they curiously feel very proud of, considering the only reason they had to abolish it was because they really got the thing going in the first place).
I also learnt a lot about the rise and fall of ports in West Africa where the tragic process used to begin and how the changing societal attitudes towards slavery affected them. Olusoga also spends a lot of time tracking chicken and egg question of racism and slavery. Was it racism that allowed slavery to happen, or was racism invented later to justify the immorality of slavery? A little bit of both, I suppose, but insane racist theories were definitely invented and spread by people whom it served.
Speaking of vicious racists, I was surprised to see Thomas Carlyle Wikipedia page make no mention of it. Or at least that was the case back in March 2022, when I was reading this book. I’m happy to report that thanks to user Sinopecynic (if I understand the wiki edit history correctly) you can read all about Carlyle's disgusting views.
Olusoga did an amazing job recovering this history for us, filling the gaps wherever he could – a very hard task when trying to catalogue history of people purposedly excluded from it.
Other interesting topics covered that I would like to explore more were the treatment of black GI in Britain (and how white GI had a hard time accepting that outside of their country black people weren’t treated as subhuman), the strong link between the cotton industry built on slavery and the industrial revolution, and the first big wave of black immigrants from the Caribbean to the UK post World War II. Here I remember feeling particularly infuriated reading about some man (whose name I forgot and whose name is best forgotten) explaining on some TV talk show in the 60s (I think?) about what a danger to the society mixed race babies are, and how they are sure to have many genetic problems etc (rich coming from a country with a completely inbred royal family). Being pregnant with such a baby at the time of reading this I got so angry I dreamt of going back in time and punching that man in the face, maybe repeatedly.
raelovestoread's review against another edition
5.0
An easy 5 stars for a very important book.
Black and British tells the story of black British history through the centuries and shows how intertwined the lives of people living both in Britain and throughout the old empire are.
It's a devastating story of maltreatment, suffering, betrayal and injustice and David Olusoga brings it all into the light in this well-researched volume.
I hope many people find the time to read this book as it gave me a much better understanding of how the past impacts the present and the future. It is a dense volume and quite a commitment, but a very worthwhile read.
Black and British tells the story of black British history through the centuries and shows how intertwined the lives of people living both in Britain and throughout the old empire are.
It's a devastating story of maltreatment, suffering, betrayal and injustice and David Olusoga brings it all into the light in this well-researched volume.
I hope many people find the time to read this book as it gave me a much better understanding of how the past impacts the present and the future. It is a dense volume and quite a commitment, but a very worthwhile read.
readingatthemuseum's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.25
helenaruby's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
it’s been a long journey since i started this back in the beginning of march but we did it (is it still appropriate to say joe considering.. everything right now?) absolutely excellent body of work. enlightening and affirming beyond words. so grateful for historians like david olusoga, the absolute mad man that he is. i am SO glad i read this and you should too!!!! easiest 5/5 ever!!
jen_16's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
drannieg's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Olusoga is an incredible writer. Outstanding and highly readable book.