Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Ibram X. Kendi
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Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Ibram X. Kendi
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Found in: Community & Culture, Black Voices

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Overview

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"Essential reading."
Bustle

Overall rating: 4.888889 / 5 from 9 reviews.

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Review topics: ["book","issues","work","thoughts"].

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Reviews

Must-read for anyone who wants to understand the roots of race issues today

"Stamped from the Beginning is one of the most enlightening and thought-provoking books that looks at the origin of racist ideas about Black people and how much of the systemic racism and prejudiced ideas against Black people even now was deliberately created to justify their enslavement and exploitation. This is an expansive book where Kendi and his fellow academics cover hundreds of years of history, which is so relevant to understanding contemporary race issues today and covers subjects such as the invention of Blackness, the myth of assimilation and the myth of Black hypersexuality. The roots of these damaging prejudices and myths connect to other ideas Kendi presented in his excellent book How to Be an Antiracist."

Alexander (5/5)

Very informative

"I listen to the audiobook and bought the book to give as a gift. It's a wonderful read to understand the roots of racism not only in US but it takes you all the way to it's roots in Europe and leads you to understand modern day issues. It is long but it's totally worth it."

Sandra C. (5/5)

The first element that drew me in!

"I had some idea of the direction this was going to take, but was happy to receive the revelations that I did while reading Kendi's work again."

Roni (5/5)

A must for understanding the roots of racism

"An indepth read of the beginnings of slavery. I had no idea that European racism towards all other races, especially Blacks, was seeded in the times of Aristotle and the the so-called societal pundits since then. This masterpiece was soundly researched and written. A must for anyone wishing to understand the persistance of racism today."

Lisa (5/5)

Self interest or greed is the basis of racism

"Great book that tracks the origin of the racist ideas and shows how Europeans’ economic desire made it necessary for them to come up with racist ideas."

SJSM (5/5)

Eye Opening!!!

"Yes, it is a long book. Yes, it is an emotional subject matter. This book is for everyone regardless of one's political persuasion or racial background. The author adeptly traces the complicated origins of racism and the evolution of this human malady throughout the centuries. This book is relevant to today's current political situation with the struggle for equality and reconciliation. Superb book!"

David C. (5/5)

""You will put this down motivated to engage with your world differently""

"An exceptional work of intellectual history; well told, accessibly written, filled to the brim with perspective, and strikingly insightful. These insights are challenging to consume. Striking both for the reorientation of one’s historical perspective and for their disgusting racism. In its further historical reaches Stamped From The Beginning is an interesting historical narrative. A lot of the information about American History was new to me, but even my shallow understanding was challenged and reoriented by the perspectives shared here. In reading about the Civil Rights movement and later developments, or lack there of, I was on more familiar ground, but still not emotionally prepared for how enraging it is to look at this recent history, as it was so woefully misguided. How we can, as a species, have such entrenched and limited perspectives on our society’s, and our own, engagement with the subject of race is shaming and invigorating at the same time. Herein lies the value of Stamped From The Beginning. You’ll read, learn, find new perspective (regardless of the sophistication of your previous understanding), and you will put it down motivated to engage with your world differently."

Murray (5/5)

For anyone who wants to better understand racist thought

"Excellent book that gives a detailed history of racist thought from start to present day. This opened my eyes on a lot of things that have gone on or that have been said that seemed reasonable, but were in fact products of racist thinking."

PixieSio (5/5)

another wake up call

"this book provides insight as to why racism will always be deeply ingrained from past to the present in the US & what can be done to about it."

DJ5O (4/5)

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  • Published date: Jun 20, 2023
  • Language: English
  • No. of Pages: 736
  • Publisher: Publicaffairs
  • ISBN: 9781645030393
  • Dimensions: 6.0" W x 1.813" L x 11.2" H
Ibram Kendi is a National Book Award-winning author of sixteen books for adults and children including the New York Times bestseller, How to Be an Anti-Racist. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, and the director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News racial justice contributor. He lives in Boston, MA.

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