Carol Anderson (2) (1959–)

Powerful and brief is good in my book. I have done lots of reading in the area of white supremacist ideology and US history with respect to government and legal policies respecting African Americans, and this is a punchy and well written short volume that traces the consistent betrayal of our stated ideals when it comes down to a showdown with ensuring continued white dominance. And, I would disagree with the reviewer who said there wasn't much new here. There were a couple of new show more revelations to me , including President Andrew Johnson's championing of free 160 acre giveaways to poor whites while opposing dividing the liberated plantations to the formerly enslaved who had worked it -- to cite just one example. A highly recommended read/listen. show less

Carol Anderson has written an enraging account of how the vote has been systematically stripped and rendered meaningless for people of color, especially black people, in the United States. She begins with a brief history of how states tried to keep people from voting before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 24th Amendment, the created myth of rampant voter fraud, and then continues through the steps taken to keep people off the rolls today: voter ID, voter roll purges, redrawing show more boundaries to dilute minority votes, and gerrymandering. The results have been devastating. Contrary to pundit claims, the "enthusiasm gap" in the 2016 election was less important than the number of African-Americans who did not vote.

Anderson has chosen to keep the book concise, which makes it an easy read, but there's probably an even longer book to be written here. The notes are extensive, which makes it possible to track various specific issues if you want. Understandably, given that Anderson is an African-American studies professor, African American voters are her primary focus. She does discuss Latino vote suppression, but I felt that a little more exploration of that issue would have been welcome, especially since politicians seem less likely to cloak their racism when holding out the specter of non-citizen voting.

With only a month to go till the election, this is essential reading--especially since Brian Kemp is singled out for his history of vote suppression in Georgia. show less

Incredibly well-researched. clearly organized, clearly written. Especially good how she ties the past strategies of voter suppression to current ones. Could have been a depressing read but instead an energizing one because so many people have always been fighting against it, and better to know exactly what and why we are fighting. Makes an indisputable argument.

“It is time to rethink America.”

Adapted from Anderson’s bestselling White Rage (2016), this book summons young people to bear witness to the devastatingly expansive strategies white citizens have taken up to preserve the racialized violence that emerged from the founding of the nation. What is white rage? White rage works “subtly, almost imperceptibly” in American halls of power, utilizing an array of policy assaults, legal contortions, and physical violence to punish black resolve show more and block efforts toward full and equal citizenship. Anderson writes in an accessible narrative form, showing young people through pivotal historical events the ways in which white rage has been able to effectively undermine black-led social movements for equality and justice. It begins with the rise of the 19th-century Black Codes and the emergence of Jim Crow during the betrayal of Reconstruction. It continues into the Great Migration, when many black families chose to move North for opportunities and were met with extreme racist violence from white hate groups. The text carries us up to the current president and is enhanced by archival photographs. In her foreword, celebrated young adult author Nic Stone (Odd One Out, 2018, etc.) reminds us that it’s not just about exposing the roots of American racism, but what we do about it now.

Revealing our racialized past and arguing that we must refashion our nation in pursuit of a new, beloved, and just society. (discussion guide, sources, resources, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

-Kirkus Review show less