Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... How to Be an Antiracist (edition 2019)by Ibram X. Kendi (Author)
Work InformationHow to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
» 10 more Books Read in 2020 (620) Books Read in 2019 (1,266) Penguin Random House (43) Black Authors (290) SHOULD Read Books! (148) 2020 (7) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Everyone needs to read this book! Kendi provides profound insight into racism through the lens of his lived experience. Shows us how racism is a cancer that has infected the human spirit and that if we aren't attentive we may be sick too. This book is very approachable and meets you where you are if you are willing to learn. I guarantee that if you read this book, there will be something you disagree with. But I strongly believe that if you read the whole thing, walk the intellectual path Kendi lays out, then you will find much you agree with and much to ponder. He will challenge your assumptions. But he will not attack you as a person. So do not be afraid to pick up this book and perhaps see the world in a different light. [Audiobook note: Kendi reads this book himself. This was not wise. Far too often, his delivery is too rhythmically choppy to be a good listen. You should probably stick to the print version.] This book is SO good. I can't recommend it enough. Racism is a highly charged topic and Kendi could easily (and rightfully) have put white people on blast. It's what I expected when I started reading, but I want to learn how to do better so I dived in. What I got instead was Kendi's journey through his own racism and antiracism beliefs along with the knowledge to help me move myself further along the antiracism spectrum. I also highly recommend Stamped from the Beginning. Has as a reference guide/companionHas as a commentary on the textAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
""The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it -- and then dismantle it." Ibram X. Kendi's concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America -- but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it. In this book, Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science, bringing it all together with an engaging personal narrative of his own awakening to antiracism. How to Be an Antiracist is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond an awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a truly just and equitable society." -- No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)305.800973Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Groups of people Ethnic and national groups ; racism, multiculturalism General Biography And History North America United StatesLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
I usually end up rolling my eyes at "everything you thought you knew was wrong" style books, because - no matter how well-intentioned - there comes a point when it's hard to believe that out of every human on earth, we've all been going the wrong way and only the Messiah-like author can save us. But this is actually not Kendi's aim. Instead he draws on a rich vein of historical sources and some impeccable research to explain the points-of-view of those who already knew what we should be doing, contrasting it with his own development as a young dark-skinned black man growing up in the USA, filled with his own biases, bigotries, and fears. We emerge from the final chapter not, perhaps, with an answer on what we need to do to solve the impacts of racism in our society, but certainly with an awareness of innovative, powerful, and practical tools at our disposal.
One caveat for international readers like myself: this book is not a "beginner's guide" in any sense - to the problems of racism, to sociology, to history. It was written by a highly-educated, intellectual, deeply progressive American who writes for The Atlantic and he assumes his audience are highly-educated, intellectual, deeply progressive Americans who probably read The Atlantic. As a result, I got a bit lost occasionally when American history and slang played major roles in some chapters, or when the discussion veered off into modern academic theories on race and discrimination. (Kendi himself acknowledges that he doesn't use some of these phrases when talking to laypeople!) That's not a complaint - after all, this is an American book for Americans; I'm the problem child for reading it in my far-flung corner of the earth.
Yet I don't say that to put you off the book. It still has a lot to say on how we process our individual biases, instilled in us over a lifetime, and I will be reflecting upon it for a long time to come. ( )