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A review by taylermae
In the Camps: China's High-Tech Penal Colony by Darren Byler
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Byler’s book brings interviews and large-scale economic and political phenomena together. It links China’s digital surveillance and algorithms to the detainment and oppression of the Uyghur, Kazakh, and Hui ethnic minorities of the Xinjiang territory. 4 stars for magnifying the voices of people who escaped China’s interment camps as well as analyzing who is complicit and responsible for the abuse, torture, and disappearance (possibly death) of Xinjiang’s local peoples. It is fast-paced and mostly accessible to a general reader, with a few phrases that the author coined that require some more analysis. Some information is repetitive; the intro is a summary of each part of the book, rather than mostly an introduction to the topic.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Colonisation
Minor: Suicide