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A review by mosso
In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action by Vicky Osterweil
5.0
One of my favorite books of the year!
Vicky Osterwell is an effective, clear, and persuasive writer. The first chapter alone, where she systematically refutes many of the arguments against looting, is worth making a PDF of to send to all of your friends and organizations and lays out the arguments more thoroughly examined in the rest of the book. "In Defense of Looting" largely chronicles the history of looting, its origins, and its racialized roots. The connection of whiteness to property is repeatedly highlighted, beginning with slavery and the self-looting of slaves to the dawn of urban riots in the gilded age to the key role of looting and rioting in the civil rights movement. This is worth reading as a history book alone. She managed to give both a broad overview of the approximately 200-year-period covered and, within that, detailed, nuanced movement histories.
This book was started in the wake of Ferguson, and I view it as an act of fate that it came out right before the summer uprisings. Reading the last chapter gave me chills as she wrote about not if, but when, we would see another upsurge of riots and looting. Before reading this book, my analysis was loosely "who gives a fuck about Target when black people are dying?" This book took that so much further in deconstructing the ways property is inherently tied to whiteness and destruction of that property is a direct and non-cooptable attack on said whiteness. Looting itself is a racialized word rooted in anti-blackness. It is a "color-blind" word for black rioters.
Beyond the moral and historic justifications of looting, looting is Effective. We saw that this summer in Minneapolis, one of the cities with the most intense rioting, and also the most radical discussion of dismantling the city police department. Looting works. And throughout the histories detailed in the book, it works over and over and over again, which is why it is one of the most demonized tactics across "all sides of the aisle." It is a threat to liberalism. It is a threat to property and thus to whiteness.
I am so grateful for this book, and Vicky, I'm so sorry your ratings are dominated by reactionaries. Must! Read!
Vicky Osterwell is an effective, clear, and persuasive writer. The first chapter alone, where she systematically refutes many of the arguments against looting, is worth making a PDF of to send to all of your friends and organizations and lays out the arguments more thoroughly examined in the rest of the book. "In Defense of Looting" largely chronicles the history of looting, its origins, and its racialized roots. The connection of whiteness to property is repeatedly highlighted, beginning with slavery and the self-looting of slaves to the dawn of urban riots in the gilded age to the key role of looting and rioting in the civil rights movement. This is worth reading as a history book alone. She managed to give both a broad overview of the approximately 200-year-period covered and, within that, detailed, nuanced movement histories.
This book was started in the wake of Ferguson, and I view it as an act of fate that it came out right before the summer uprisings. Reading the last chapter gave me chills as she wrote about not if, but when, we would see another upsurge of riots and looting. Before reading this book, my analysis was loosely "who gives a fuck about Target when black people are dying?" This book took that so much further in deconstructing the ways property is inherently tied to whiteness and destruction of that property is a direct and non-cooptable attack on said whiteness. Looting itself is a racialized word rooted in anti-blackness. It is a "color-blind" word for black rioters.
Beyond the moral and historic justifications of looting, looting is Effective. We saw that this summer in Minneapolis, one of the cities with the most intense rioting, and also the most radical discussion of dismantling the city police department. Looting works. And throughout the histories detailed in the book, it works over and over and over again, which is why it is one of the most demonized tactics across "all sides of the aisle." It is a threat to liberalism. It is a threat to property and thus to whiteness.
I am so grateful for this book, and Vicky, I'm so sorry your ratings are dominated by reactionaries. Must! Read!