Customer Reviews
This book. THIS BOOK.First, a little background: I'm a white, female Global History teacher, and I picked this up as part of a book study. It sounded interesting (I minored in the Civil Rights Movement) and, honestly, I was also looking for a book study to earn some salary credit. Let me just say — this BLEW ME AWAY. I originally had access to a digital copy through the course, but I knew, just knew, I needed a physical copy to mark up, re-read, and share with colleagues, friends, and family. I've honestly lost track of the number of people I've told to read this book. I’m convinced Amazon owes me commission for how many times I’ve shared the link, haha.The book is incredibly well-written, deeply researched, and comes with an entire section in the back with 300+ citations (my history teacher heart swooned). Over the course of 10 chapters, Heather McGhee outlines the many ways racism has cost America — from the draining of public pools to subprime loans, redlining, environmental injustice, and more. She dives into the complicit (and often malicious) efforts by the government, big business, and the media to stoke fear, uphold white supremacy, and scapegoat Black and brown communities for systemic problems. While McGhee doesn’t pull punches when showing how harmful these policies have been to people of color, she also lays out — just as clearly — how white Americans have suffered, too. And it’s not all doom and gloom: McGhee shares powerful stories of how rejecting the zero-sum mindset and embracing our diversity can actually make America great — for everyone, not just a privileged few.If you’re looking at the current state of the country and wondering, how did we get here? — READ THIS BOOK.
This ranks as a top 5 book in my life for change and shaping how I view the tragic history of racism and how it is not just a personal moral failingbut a systematic degradation of what it means to fully human. The writing flows and the research and documentation of evidence is exceptional. Every American needs to read this book regardless of race or gender to elevate our words and deeds.
good for perspective
Someone I have never met recommended this book to me. From the 1st sentence to the closing notes, McGhee's book sat me down and seemed to say: "Let me tell you how it REALLY is." This is not an easy story for a white guy to hear - but I come away so much the richer for it, saddened by what our nation's racist history has cost, frustrated by all the human potential that has been lost. But the underlying genius of the book is the author's ability to say: " Let me tell you how rich our life together can really be! "
“𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅’𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒚, 𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚.”There are a few truths that we must face if we want to build a nation that is truly great: we are living on a stolen land built by stolen labor, the freedom and privilege that we enjoy is a product of the exploitation of a racial hierarchy, and we are equipped to dismantle that hierarchy so that all of us, rather than just some of us, can be greater than the sum of us. Read this for:🌎 a complete dismantling of the idea that the majority suffers due to the gains of the minority💸 compelling truths about the high costs of racism, white supremacy, systemic oppression, and denial in *all* communities – be they white, nonwhite, liberal, conservative🔍 eye-opening clarification about our shared realities and the invisible boundaries we all live within🖊️ top notch writing, research, and accessible presentation- an expert blend of meticulous data analysis, personal experiences, and investigative research.🧭 guidance for realistic, hopeful, multi-racial solutions that can bend the moral arc of our nation back toward justice, and begin to transform AmericaAt this point, anyone who is aware of our nation’s history (and recent history) has been confronted with the hard realities that many of our problems, from housing to healthcare, education, voting rights, clean air, etc – can be traced to racial injustice.Unlock our shared history, and take a closer look at the insidious ways that racial hierarchy has baited the white majority into believing in a false zero-sum model… and then use this book as a guidebook, as a roadmap into what solidarity actual looks like.This is simply excellent.“𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉.”
