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jenmangler's review against another edition
4.0
Sometimes you read a book and you know that, because of it, you'll never see things the same way again. That's this book for me. This is a book I wish everyone would read, because there's so much in it that we need to talk about.
Read this book.
Read this book.
dadcalves's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
trishtalksbooks's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
mmacmahon's review against another edition
5.0
Well written and compelling
Fantastically written, it presents a perspective of our society that is both soundly backed up by evidence and avoids being bogged down by sheer weight of information. It's easy to read, eloquently argued, and a must to gain a bigger picture look at the history and direction of the civil rights, and human rights movement, of the 20th and 21st century.
Fantastically written, it presents a perspective of our society that is both soundly backed up by evidence and avoids being bogged down by sheer weight of information. It's easy to read, eloquently argued, and a must to gain a bigger picture look at the history and direction of the civil rights, and human rights movement, of the 20th and 21st century.
aroberts714's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
sunwapta's review against another edition
4.0
This book is very educational. And i really appreciate that the book focuses on everything before and after incarceration as being the root of the problems. It does spend a little bit on correctional facilities, which are often considered to be the root of the problem behind mass incarceration of black and Brown people.
I do wish the book spent a little more time on success stories in programs, cases, etc that have positively stood against Jim Crow. That would have given more hope in the possibility of change. Instead, the book really focuses on all that went wrong and continues to go wrong. All true but it leaves very hope of real, life-altering changes. And maybe that’s the point - American will likely never be able to treat each other as equals…
I do wish the book spent a little more time on success stories in programs, cases, etc that have positively stood against Jim Crow. That would have given more hope in the possibility of change. Instead, the book really focuses on all that went wrong and continues to go wrong. All true but it leaves very hope of real, life-altering changes. And maybe that’s the point - American will likely never be able to treat each other as equals…
willa_reads_books's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
4.75
very informative but a little dense simply bc of content. everything is communicated clearly. i would definitely recommend this book
mitskacir's review against another edition
4.0
This is an extremely important and powerful book. Alexander's argument for how slavery evolved into the Jim Crow era which in turn grew into our current era of mass incarceration is expansive and convincing. The majority of the book explains the horrors of mass incarceration and the policies that have made it so, but the final chapter is truly the most powerful as Alexander explains the danger of colorblindness and racial indifference. I learned a lot from this book, both about American history and about how to view it, and now I need to think about what to do next.