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A review by samdalefox
Superior: The Return of Race Science by Angela Saini
informative
medium-paced
4.75
Angela Saini is a treasure to the intersectional feminism world. Long may her research continue. 'Superior' is her next book following 'Inferior' and largely achieves the same outcome. Saini comprehensively debunks racism's core lie, just as she roundly debunked sexism's core lie previously. She methodically, logically, dissects the racism used within science. She explains how it begun, how and why it survives today, and how it has influenced society. Saini draws from a range of sources, notably anthropologists, historians, sociologists, molecular biologists, and geneticists. I personally found one of the later chapters examining clinical trials very interesting. Despite all this academic research, this is not a dry book. Siani is an experienced journalist and weaves personal narratives and dialogue into the text.
I greatly appreciate the thoroughness of Saini's investigations, and her attempt to report neutrally whilst simultaneously recognising her own experiences, limitations, and biases AND the inclusion of an impressive references list. From one scientist to another, THANK YOU. We love sources. We love peer reviewed research. We love substantiating our claims. This 1) gives weight to her analyses and credibility, and 2) gives us the readers the power to read further, critically assess for ourselves, and have an ammo list to hand when some devil's-advocate-troll demands a reference for your claim.
The reason this doesn't quite pip 5 stars is because at times the narrative repeated itself and felt a little wandering. It could benefit from a tiny bit of trimming and reformatting so that the key points and evidence cited in each chapter stand out more clearly.
Overall, this is a critical book for anyone interested in learning about racism and/or committed to becoming anti-racist. There were several moments in the book that prompted me to question my own internalised thoughts about race. I would highly recommend.
I greatly appreciate the thoroughness of Saini's investigations, and her attempt to report neutrally whilst simultaneously recognising her own experiences, limitations, and biases AND the inclusion of an impressive references list. From one scientist to another, THANK YOU. We love sources. We love peer reviewed research. We love substantiating our claims. This 1) gives weight to her analyses and credibility, and 2) gives us the readers the power to read further, critically assess for ourselves, and have an ammo list to hand when some devil's-advocate-troll demands a reference for your claim.
The reason this doesn't quite pip 5 stars is because at times the narrative repeated itself and felt a little wandering. It could benefit from a tiny bit of trimming and reformatting so that the key points and evidence cited in each chapter stand out more clearly.
Overall, this is a critical book for anyone interested in learning about racism and/or committed to becoming anti-racist. There were several moments in the book that prompted me to question my own internalised thoughts about race. I would highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, and Slavery