User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
There was no science to prove any of this. But who needs science when you have racism?
This should be required reading in all American schools. Kids need to know and understand this history (even if the author is quick to tell you it's "not a history book"). It really is absolutely essential. And Reynolds's adaptation is a very accessible, very necessary overview of 500+ years of racism and antiracism in the United States. Now I'm thinking I need to get my hands on Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning to expand on some of the ideas introduced in this book.
Jason Reynolds has done a great job of condensing a lot of information into less than three hundred pages. He has adapted Kendi's work to specifically appeal to young people and he uses humour and a conversational style to keep their attention. He certainly managed to keep my attention.
If you’re like me, you’re asking yourself, Was he on drugs? Yes. Yes, he was. The most addictive drug known to America. Racism. It causes wealth, an inflated sense of self, and hallucinations.
I studied the American Civil War, the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, and colonialism in quite a bit of depth in school, so I expected to be fairly well-versed in the subject matter, but the book still taught me a lot of things. I was especially interested in the origin story of American racism and how Kendi traced the history back to a man he calls the "first racist".
It was also interesting - though, sadly, not surprising - to hear that the old "divide and rule" strategy played such a huge part in the formation of racist ideas. Every student who has studied colonialism knows all too well how those two words in tandem are the cause of so much war, destruction and prejudice. The British did it in India, leading to partition. The Germans and Belgians did it in Rwanda, leading to one of history's worst genocides. And a governor did it in Virginia to pit poor whites and black people against one another:
But the governor knew if Blacks and Whites joined forces, he’d be done. Everything would be done. It would’ve been an apocalypse. So, he had to devise a way to turn poor Whites and poor Blacks against each other, so that they’d be forever separated and unwilling to join hands and raise fists against the elite. And the way he did this was by creating (wait for it… ) White privileges.
If the racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric circling round the poor white communities of today's America is anything to go by, this policy has had consequences that are still being felt in 2020.
The Civil Rights Era stuff was mostly an overview of what I already knew, but it is essential reading for those unfamiliar with it. It introduces readers to the usual suspects-- MLK, Malcolm X, Booker T. Washington, Du Bois, Angela Davis, Marcus Garvey and Stokely Carmichael, to name but a few, and it looks at how racist thinking has not always escaped black writers and activists themselves. I was also pleased that the book spent a little time looking at the overlap of gender, sexuality and racism, and how black women and queer black women have had to deal with prejudice from different angles.
I took a number of things from the later chapters, as well. I just remembered how very much I want to reread Roots: The Saga of an American Family, which I thought was excellent when I first read it and I was too young to really appreciate what I was reading. I also did not know the Rocky franchise was basically racist propaganda. Now I don't need to feel bad that I've never seen it.
Reynolds also explained the "War on Drugs" to me, in simple terms, so I feel like, for the first time, I actually understand what happened there and how drugs became such a major part of perpetuating racial inequality in America.
There's a lot going on this book, and it's a testament to Reynolds's writing skills that it never feels overcrowded or overwhelming. Put this in the hands of all American teens.
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Rating: really liked it
if you take one recommendation from me this year, let it be this one.
everyone should read this book.
this is one of my favorite books of 2020. find the full list: https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...
Rating: really liked it
Big History at its best, it´s showing the important connection between past atrocities and current systems, between old ideologies and their new, subtle, dishonest disguises. Just because something isn´t easy to spot as a malady from the past doesn´t mean that it´s cured, that society is vaccinated, that it´s not a hidden plague still metastasizing, mutating to new forms, evolving to a more politically correct chimera level. Not just the weird ideology mixups of old and new extremist groups, but especially the ones who deem themselves sophisticated, enlightened, and mostly privileged people, who don´t get the whole picture and impede and delay real, substantial change by promoting a dysfunctional, deeply unfair system and having or simulating a blind eye for the cognitive dissonances inside their minds, political parties, and well meaning NGOs.
It´s telling that conventional history just keeps talking about the numbers, names, and obvious actions, but strangely and suspiciously avoids linking them to too hot, controversial, and thereby dangerously true, political, social, and especially economic topics and contemporary history. Would look too bad and open too many questions, not really correspond to what is usually talked about in history class, education prefers memorizing names, places, and numbers instead of reflecting, interpreting, and questioning how we came to where we are. But at least the bigotry is consequent, because the devastating results of this history of shame are concealed and downplayed in most media too.
Of course, schools can´t teach critical thinking, where could that end, instead they just keep helping to create underprivileged, poor white people´s prejudices by not detecting their racist ideas to keep them fighting against the minorities, blacks, anyone in bad, oldfashioned divide et impera style, and by not stopping to keep relativizing a horrible, disgusting past or at least preventing radicalization. Far too many implications and unwanted questions because of the parallels to the second half of the second millennium after whatever, the escalating current problems, the colonial system, world history, the real economic and ideological reason for the war on drugs, redlining, and all the other atrocities.
Openly admitting and explaining to the kids that government, media, and faith used, uses, and will use propaganda and psychological warfare elements to keep the population from rebelling isn´t what the Board of Education department for the promotion of functional illiterates barely able to decipher the fake sockpuppet candidates to actively participate in a dead democracy where all parties promote the same mad, exponential growth, no sustainability or distributive justice course, wants. Ever wondered why Big History seems to just be storming the bestselling lists, but no classrooms or curricula? They prefer the Hollywood fantasy happy go lucky endings of history where, as soon as some superficial laws, but not the underlying problems and missing wealth distribution, are changed, all is a democratic, equal, and fair wonderland.
That´s why such marvelously researched and fact based books with very modern approaches towards both arguing and opening new debates are essential, although they make much of the establishment, especially economics and politics, shiver in fear. Such a realistic, hard, and direct evaluation of both history and present day lets their common platitudes seem even more bizarre, wrong, and unscientific.
The approach of trying to make something as understandable as possible to reach the biggest audience, is often better than very good, but too detailed, specific, and complex bricks of books. In this rare case, there is the old, big, fat edition and the new, shiny, short one and I am not sure if I should still read his original Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
because I guess that most of the essential parts have been converted in this easier to read form for younger audiences. It was the only option before this new edition, now it´s certainly something for history nerds and I don´t know if it offers just more data or also more essential thesis that makes it worth reading.
Anyhow it would be a good idea for other, progressive, critical authors, citizen journalists, social critics, whistleblowers,.. to shorten and simplify their works to be more appealing for younger audiences, especially cutting out anecdotes, unnecessary complicated academic language that is promoting the author´s ego, and wordiness about numbers, names, and places, and possibly cooperating with professional fiction authors who know how to write thrilling and suspenseful. That could open the gates for the exponentiation of readers both important, but self blocking, authors and audiences could benefit from, not to forget society.
A similar book:
https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Ch...
Subjective opinion:
Something disturbing comes to my mind when there is this talk about reappraisal, compensation, and justice. It is close to 400 years between the so called Exploration of North America and the end of slavery in 1865, and just 80 years from then until the end of WW2 in 1945. Depending on the national perspective, a very strange system of illogical argumentations, constructed out of
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaga...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_m...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychol...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychol...
sets in there.
Just to rename places, streets, buildings, etc. that are named in the honor of all the mass murderers participating in colonizing the world and establishing dictatorships for centuries, is already a very hot topic for whatever stupid reasons described in the links. The same mechanism sets in when it´s about doing the same with names associated with slavery. But now, mind game, jump over the pond and imagine the same thing in Europe. So it´s obviously unthinkable to have anything related to glorifying the unspeakable atrocities of WW2, but perfectly fine to still downplay or even kind of celebrate and glorify the same, earlier, often close to genocidal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocit...
,…
editions and key personalities in the US, UK, Spain, and other countries. People just don´t, want to, understand that there is no difference between them and leading Nazi war criminals, don´t want the so called explorers and glorified heroes of their nation and history to be at the same level as the organizers of the
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannsee...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_S...
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_co...
A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real-life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangu...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neocolo...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolibe...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_His...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrohi...
Rating: really liked it
“If we understand how the tree works, how the trunk and roots are where the power lies, and how gravity is on our side, we can attack it, each of us with small axes, and change the face of the forest. So let’s learn all there is to know about the tree of racism. The root. The fruit. The sap and trunk. The nests built over time, the changing leaves. That way, your generation can finally, actively chop it down.”
This was a reworking of Ibram X. Kendi’s
Stamped From the Beginning, told in a way that is accessible for a younger/teen audience. Kendi wrote a forward in this and I really enjoyed that part so I will definietly be reading his book next.
I listened to this on audio and Jason narrated it himself. I have listened to a few of his audiobooks and his narration is always incredible. As a white person who grew up in the south there is so much about the history of slavery that I did not know. And so much of it that was twisted or left without context to fit a narrative. Jason did a great job at breaking it down and exposing a lot of the history that textbooks left out.
If you are already very well versed in black history I don’t know how much you would get from this but I highly recommend it for anyone who is looking for a first step to educating yourself.
Rating: really liked it
Ibram X. Kendi's book Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America was released in 2016.
Kendi, a
Boston University Professor and founder of the
BU Center for Antiracist Research, was awarded the National Book Award in nonfiction for the title. It's also close to 600-pages by a man who can certainly run intellectual circles around me. For that fact alone, I find it intimidating.
Luckily for me, and a lot of other Readers, Kendi decided he wanted to find someone who could take his ideas and write it in a way that would be more agreeable to a younger audience. Hence,
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You was born.
It sounds like it took a little cajoling, but eventually Reynolds, a well-loved author of Children's and Young Adult fiction, agreed to take on the project.
Pictured above: Jason Reynolds (left) and Ibram X. Kendi (right)I chose to listen to the audiobook because I knew that it was narrated by Reynolds. I'm so happy that I did. I would have enjoyed it had I read a hard copy, but hearing it from him, in the way he felt it should be read, was a really special experience.
This book offers a concise history of racism, and the racist ideas that have been used to justify slavery and oppression of black people in the United States, from the time of the first slaves arrival to the country, up through the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement.
It's framed through three separate schools of thought: segregationists, assimilationists and antiracists. It explains how racist ideologies were constructed in a way to gain and keep power; how they led to the systemic issues prevalent today.
Reynolds states numerous times that this is not a history book, and you know what, it doesn't feel like one. The way this is presented makes it feel like you are talking with a friend.
It's engaging, it's forthright and it's a must read.The entire way through I was jotting down ideas, people and events that I want to learn more about. After reading this, I am no longer intimidated by Kendi's original work. I want to read it and plan to by the end of the year!
I cannot recommend this enough. Particularly the audiobook. If you haven't read this one yet, you absolutely should.
Rating: really liked it
“Turned out, freedom in America was like quicksand. It looked solid until a Black person tried to stand on it. Then it became clear that it was a sinkhole.” Amongst all the anti-racist literature that is out there, this is one of the ones that needs to be heard, listened to and read and understood.
It was simultaneously empowering and exhausting to listen to. Props to Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi and the production team for bringing this book to life.
This is a condensed, YA version of Ibram X. Kendi’s novel, Stamped From the Beginning. But as condensed as it was, it’ll still leave you with information that’ll have your mind enriched.
The aim was for it to highlight how our current present is a product of the past, of the history that came before us and how this book now presents a new history almost to the one that has been regurgitated. In other words, the truth. Because it’s only with truthful knowledge and honest conversations surrounding the injustices that have occurred and still keep occurring, that will allow us to shape our future better.
Rating: really liked it
I hope this book is put into the hands of every teen in this country, so that it can at least somewhat counteract the white-colored "history" they learn in schools. This work isn't trying to be objective or neutral or to be a history book. It's a call to all of us to face the centuries of racism in the US, and once and for all become anti-racist. Adapted by Jason Reynolds from Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi. I appreciated the complexity of the thought packed into this very-very abridged, condensed work for teens. While I didn't always like Reynolds' tricks to keep the (young) readers' attention, I still think it is a powerful manifesto that I hope gets widely read. It's pretty clear it'll be getting all kinds of awards and acclaims this year.
Rating: really liked it
I’m amazed at the widespread thought that this should be required reading for high school students. Unless the reader is equipped with a background in actual history to identify when revisionist history is presented, I fear they could see it all as fact. In fairness the author does many times say “this isn’t a history book.” I took that as it’s not the intent of the book to be primarily a history book. Perhaps he really did mean it would be his revisionist history to fit a narrative.
The author clearly prefers Malcom X/Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party tactics to those of MLK. If you feel the same you’ll likely enjoy this read. If you try and pry out racism in literally everything you hear or see, again you’ll likely enjoy this book.
The author doesn’t address any disparate equality of opportunity, but only discusses disparate outcomes, that’s unfortunate. The author presents only two reasons for disparate outcomes between races, genetic differences (clearly debunked here and elsewhere) and racism. That’s it, it has to be caused by racism full stop. I would recommend spending some time with a Thomas Sowell book or two instead of or at least to supplement this reading. Sowell is famous for arguing that disparate outcomes between races are not necessarily attributed solely to racism. He presents other reasons and backs his well founded arguments as the lifelong academic he is. It’s worth gathering his opinions as well.
Rating: really liked it
“There will come a time when we will love humanity, when we will gain the courage to fight for an equitable society for our beloved humanity, knowing, intelligently, that when we fight for humanity, we are fighting for ourselves.”
This was absolutely phenomenal. I haven't read the original by Ibram X. Kendi yet, but I certainly plan to after listening to Jason Reynolds' magnificent YA re-working of it. I don't know how much this book will help educate many of the Black individuals in my lives who grew up knowing this information and who work hard for civil rights, but as a white person who was raised in the deep south, so much of the truth that Jason Reynolds revealed here was painfully skimmed over in my upbringing and education. I feel like I learned things that I should have known a long time ago, and I was certainly reminded of how little I will ever truly grasp the Black experience, especially here in the US. But it also reminded me that there are always things I can do as long as I keep learning and listening and do everything in my power to be
anti-racist.I'd also like to say that Reynolds' narration skills are unparalleled; he's so much fun to listen to, and I can see why so many people have raved to me now about audiobooks of his works. I could have listened to him for hours longer and I know I'll be reaching for audio formats of everything else he's written because it was just so enjoyable.
Thank you so much to the publisher and LibroFM ALC Program for providing me with this finished audio copy in exchange for an honest review!
Rating: really liked it
I will need to reread this one and think some more about the ideas and facts presented. As an educator, I am not happy with the tone used towards all “whites” and am afraid it will create more tension and hatred instead of open up conversations for discussion. I love Jason Reynold’s writing, and he lives up to his reputation here. He is still one of my favorite writers to use to teach author’s craft and verbal discourse around tough topics. I enjoyed all the history presented and love the voice used in teaching it and educating students about some of my favorite writers: L. Hughes & J. Baldwin. I am not happy with the lack of presenting a complete history to understand why some people may target others beyond race. For example, Ronald Reagan was alive during the Red Scare and actually was President Of the Screen Actor’s Guild. He had to deal with the influx of Communists working in Hollywood and wanting to change the political/economic system of America, so it would be no surprise he would look at Davis as a Communist and therefore a threat to our country. Did he judge her for being black? I have no idea, but I know you have to take into account her political leanings also. This would be a great discussion to have with teenagers, and come to their own conclusions about people. I agree whole heartedly that standardized tests are not fair to students in poverty, no matter the race. I know it is hurting our students, and it makes me angry on their behalf. But, there is a specific reference to it putting pressure on Black teachers and Black students. NO, NO, NO...it puts pressure on any teacher who cares about these students and their futures. That deeply offended me! But, I can put that aside for the importance of the topic in the book. My deepest disappointment was the fact that nothing was recommended or suggested for how to change things or how to have conversations about antiracisim. I want a book on that!!!! I want a book that can help us bridge this canyon and start real conversation on a topic we all avoid.
Rating: really liked it
“But the thing about being Black is that just being can bring bloodshed.”
Stamped is a fantastic starting point for anyone looking to learn more about the history of racism within America. It’s a remix of the comprehensive book Stamped From the Beginning, meaning that the book has been condensed and made more accessible for a younger audience. I fully intend to go back and read Stamped From the Beginning, but this one gave me the foundation I really needed.
To put it bluntly - this book blew my mind. There was just so much I didn’t know, that I wasn’t even aware of, and Reynolds presents all this information in easily digestible bite-sized chunks. The history of racism is told chronologically, which makes the most sense of course, taking us from the story of the world’s first racist in 1415 up until Obama’s presidency.
The most eye-opening chapter for me was the one about the War on Drugs and how it was implemented to target the Black community. This has been referred to in a few podcasts I’ve listened to, but Reynolds lays it out in the most basic terms, explaining exactly how it was orchestrated. A drug dealer or user caught with FIVE grams of crack, typically handled by Blacks and poor people, faced a minimum five-year sentence, whereas the mostly White and rich users and dealers had to be caught with FIVE HUNDRED grams of powder cocaine to receive the same sentence. The same drug... just in a different form. Insanity, right?! Add in the fact that police officers policed Black neighbourhoods more, leading to more arrests. Shocking really. And this is only scratching the surface of the systemic racism that exists.
In a nutshell, this should be required reading in schools. It’s highly informative yet accessible and I truly got a lot from this book. Reynolds does a fantastic job. Highly recommend! Bring on Stamped From the Beginning! 4.5 stars.
Rating: really liked it
What a brilliant man Ibram X. Kendi is. His comprehensive historical, sociological, political, biographical "Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America," which won the National Book Award, is a professorial tome. Kendi is a distinguished academic. You don't have to buy into all of his ideas to admire this or any of his work, but it pays to wrestle with them. "Stamped..." covers the history of black people in America via copious cited research, covering complex ideas sometimes in complex language and with some very big ideas of his own.
With all the praise came a lot of feedback from people telling Kendi they were sorry they didn't have the book when they were younger. So this man who is bold enough to include "Definitive" in his title was also humble enough to take that on board and find a way to go one better. He asked his favorite YA writer, Jason Reynolds, award-winning author of prose and poetry in YA and middle-school categories, to write "The Remix," to rework and reimagine it for young people and thereby extend its reach and teach. I'm not making a qualitative comparison but naturally this reminded me of Lin-Manuel Miranda alchemizing Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton into a hip-hop musical with an interracial cast.
I'm full of admiration for this work. Jason Reynolds's "Stamped: The Remix" is itself like a textbook, should be a textbook, for younger ones. He's done a brilliant job. And it's not just for YA and middle-school children. Every American young person, especially but not only the descendants of slaves, should be required to read it in school. But I remember my textbooks. They were, no pun intended, whitewashed. And flat. You weren't meant to engage with them but to swallow them, spit them back out and move on. I can't speak for others and I didn't pursue it in college but personally, honestly, almost all of the history I've learned has been on my own.
"The Remix" is a book for adults too. There's plenty to learn and think about in there. But it's not meant for us. If you have kids and can read it before or while they do, all the better. Because let's face it, this will never be taught in schools. Not in my lifetime. And in my opinion, even if this should make its way to curricula (as if), for those with kids in the age range, best to engage with it where some of the most important learning happens: at home.
Reynolds never condescends, he explains, nor does he dilute Kendi's work, he distills it. He includes controversial ideas including that black people have at times been racists too. The fluidity of Kendi's intellectualism is maintained. He doesn't skip slave auctions and lynching but writes about them in a way that won't give younger readers constant nightmares either. There will be time for that. Having written about the substance, I'm giving Reynolds the last word so anyone unfamiliar can sample the style of "The Remix":
"We can’t attack a thing we don’t know. That’s dangerous. And… foolish. It would be like trying to chop down a tree from the top of it. So let’s learn all there is to know about the tree of racism. The root. The fruit. The sap and trunk. The nests built over time, the changing leaves. That way, your generation can finally, actively chop it down."
Rating: really liked it
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You is not a history book but one about race and how racist ideas evolved and persisted. It’s a condensed version of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s
Stamped from the Beginning.
In
Stamped the remix Jason Reynolds does a great job providing important information in an accessible format. It was easy to read, in a conversational style, though of course much of it infuriating to read about. Everyone can gain something from this — The War on Drugs was just one of
many new things I learned about.
From Reynolds’s acknowledgements:
”We can’t attack a thing we don’t know. ... So let’s learn all there is to know about the tree of racism. The root. The fruit. The sap and trunk. The beers built over time, the changing leaves. That way, your generation can finally, actively chop it down.”I read the physical book and have heard only great things about the audiobook, narrated by Reynolds.
Stamped is a book that must be read — Read it, share it, discuss it, act on it.
Rating: really liked it
I listened to the audiobook courtesy of Libro.fm and all I can say is, dang, I would listen to Jason Reynolds read the phone book.
Rating: really liked it
Such an amazing book written in a way that is engaging and accessible for teens. I'm excited to put this in my classroom and encourage my students to pick this up.
