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Antiracism: An Introduction
An introduction to antiracism, a powerful tradition crucial for energizing American democracy
On August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, a rally of white nationalists and white supremacists culminated in the death of a woman murdered in the street. Those events made clear that racism is alive and well in the United States of America. However, they also brought into sharp relief another American tradition: antiracism. While racists marched and chanted in the streets, they were met and matched by even larger numbers of protesters calling for racism's end. Racism is America's original and most enduring sin, with well-known historic and contemporary markers: slavery, lynching, Jim Crow, redlining, mass incarceration, police brutality. But racism has always been challenged by an opposing political theory and practice. Alex Zamalin's Antiracism tells the story of that opposition.
The most theoretically generative and politically valuable source of antiracist thought has been the black American intellectual tradition. While other forms of racial oppression--for example, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Latino racism--have been and continue to be present in American life, antiblack racism has always been the primary focus of American antiracist movements. From antislavery abolition to the antilynching movement, black socialism to feminism, the long Civil Rights movement to the contemporary Movement for Black Lives, Antiracism examines the way the black antiracist tradition has thought about domination, exclusion, and power, as well as freedom, equality, justice, struggle, and political hope in dark times.
Antiracism is an accessible introduction to the political theory of black American antiracism, through a study of the major figures, texts, and political movements across US history. Zamalin argues that antiracism is a powerful tradition that is crucial for energizing American democracy.
On August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, a rally of white nationalists and white supremacists culminated in the death of a woman murdered in the street. Those events made clear that racism is alive and well in the United States of America. However, they also brought into sharp relief another American tradition: antiracism. While racists marched and chanted in the streets, they were met and matched by even larger numbers of protesters calling for racism's end. Racism is America's original and most enduring sin, with well-known historic and contemporary markers: slavery, lynching, Jim Crow, redlining, mass incarceration, police brutality. But racism has always been challenged by an opposing political theory and practice. Alex Zamalin's Antiracism tells the story of that opposition.
The most theoretically generative and politically valuable source of antiracist thought has been the black American intellectual tradition. While other forms of racial oppression--for example, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Latino racism--have been and continue to be present in American life, antiblack racism has always been the primary focus of American antiracist movements. From antislavery abolition to the antilynching movement, black socialism to feminism, the long Civil Rights movement to the contemporary Movement for Black Lives, Antiracism examines the way the black antiracist tradition has thought about domination, exclusion, and power, as well as freedom, equality, justice, struggle, and political hope in dark times.
Antiracism is an accessible introduction to the political theory of black American antiracism, through a study of the major figures, texts, and political movements across US history. Zamalin argues that antiracism is a powerful tradition that is crucial for energizing American democracy.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published March 19, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 17, 2019
I RECEIVED A GALLEY OF THIS THROUGH NETGALLEY
I wasn't the biggest fan of the writting of this book. It was just very dense and academic and just not easy to read at all. After a chapter I just felt bored for the rest of the book. I think this was genuily to long for an introduction. It's a very important topic and it's an important read but it just sadly enough wasn't for me at all.
I wasn't the biggest fan of the writting of this book. It was just very dense and academic and just not easy to read at all. After a chapter I just felt bored for the rest of the book. I think this was genuily to long for an introduction. It's a very important topic and it's an important read but it just sadly enough wasn't for me at all.
April 8, 2019
Antiracism: An Introduction by Alex Zamalin is a very good book for what it is but I have a couple of things I would have liked a little better. That said, the book delivers on its promise and I can't really give a lesser review for the book not being what it didn't set out to be.
The writing could have been better, it reminded me a bit of the difference in writing, both acceptable within context, between essay questions on tests and essays I would grade as finished objects. When writing an essay answer on a test I expected something resembling a brain dump, with sentences being correct but often a little jumbled in organization and a lot of repetition of certain words or phrases, usually something one tries to avoid in a polished work. In a polished essay I expected more organization and less redundancy. This book resembles the writing on a timed test, not bad but certainly not good.
The information here is extremely valuable and presented in a very straightforward manner. Any density is more like the density of a history book (event and rationale one right after another) rather than a book of theory, so that makes this far more accessible for people for whom this is truly an introduction. My complaint, a minor one, is that it is such rapid fire that I am afraid many casual readers may not be willing to work their way through it. And this is both information and a perspective that needs to be read by a large portion of the population, not just academics and students. I would have liked to have seen more effort made to distinguish the differences between being nonracist and being antiracist. The differences are here but I think more explicit contrasts would have made for a more effective book.
I would still recommend this to most readers who want to better understand racism in all its ugly forms, especially systemic and institutionalized racism. Also readers who might not realize that simply not being racist not only does little to improve the world but contributes to keeping it from getting better.
This would also, as it seems to have been designed for, make a wonderful companion text for any number of classes in various departments that deal with racism.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.
The writing could have been better, it reminded me a bit of the difference in writing, both acceptable within context, between essay questions on tests and essays I would grade as finished objects. When writing an essay answer on a test I expected something resembling a brain dump, with sentences being correct but often a little jumbled in organization and a lot of repetition of certain words or phrases, usually something one tries to avoid in a polished work. In a polished essay I expected more organization and less redundancy. This book resembles the writing on a timed test, not bad but certainly not good.
The information here is extremely valuable and presented in a very straightforward manner. Any density is more like the density of a history book (event and rationale one right after another) rather than a book of theory, so that makes this far more accessible for people for whom this is truly an introduction. My complaint, a minor one, is that it is such rapid fire that I am afraid many casual readers may not be willing to work their way through it. And this is both information and a perspective that needs to be read by a large portion of the population, not just academics and students. I would have liked to have seen more effort made to distinguish the differences between being nonracist and being antiracist. The differences are here but I think more explicit contrasts would have made for a more effective book.
I would still recommend this to most readers who want to better understand racism in all its ugly forms, especially systemic and institutionalized racism. Also readers who might not realize that simply not being racist not only does little to improve the world but contributes to keeping it from getting better.
This would also, as it seems to have been designed for, make a wonderful companion text for any number of classes in various departments that deal with racism.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.
August 4, 2019
While this book tackles an important topic, I found that it doesn’t really put forward any original ideas about anti-racism and, on the whole, lacks argumentative clarity.
On a positive note, the bibliography is an excellent resource if you are looking for other anti-racist thinkers, but this is, in some ways, also the demise of the books (it reads as a long litany of what other anti-racist thinkers have done and advocated for across American history). Long story short: if you’re interested in anti-racism, you’d be better off just reading André Lorde, Baldwin, or Angela Davis.
On a positive note, the bibliography is an excellent resource if you are looking for other anti-racist thinkers, but this is, in some ways, also the demise of the books (it reads as a long litany of what other anti-racist thinkers have done and advocated for across American history). Long story short: if you’re interested in anti-racism, you’d be better off just reading André Lorde, Baldwin, or Angela Davis.
June 8, 2019
Slow to start, the first couple of chapters felt disorganized, but it quickly fell into a rhythm and became quite readable. A good starting place, if you are just becoming familiar with antiracism. I am looking forward to the release of Dr. Kendi's book, "How to be an Anti Racist", which will be released in August. Check out his earlier book, "Stamped from the Beginning" for an informative and very readable, much needed history lesson.
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December 14, 2018I got an ARC from Netgalley for review.
I actually finished this book awhile ago, and I don't remember a thing about it.
Either there was nothing new to me, or nothing infuriating to me, about it which made it forgettable for me.
Your mileage may vary. *shrugs*
I actually finished this book awhile ago, and I don't remember a thing about it.
Either there was nothing new to me, or nothing infuriating to me, about it which made it forgettable for me.
Your mileage may vary. *shrugs*
February 5, 2019
Antiracism by Alex Zamalin is a thoughtful and thorough examination of the Antiracism movement. The book is definitely academic in nature, but is very readable nonetheless. I wish I had had a deeper understanding of the history of race relations before starting to read; additional context may have been helpful. This book is interesting and timely, and I highly recommend it for anyone wanting a studious deep dive into the history of American Antiracism.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews