Meghan’s Reviews > The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America's Judicial Hero > Status Update

Ok. Chapter 3 is better. Not sure what was going on with the first two.

The book seems out of place - the subject matter is interesting but the mythologizing of American exceptionalism and history and the complete lack of acknowledgment of the true foundations of the country sets a bizarre tone for a discussion of a white guy who did the decent thing and gave a dissenting opinion regarding the oppression of people of color. It reeks of a white savior complex. And it’s only chapter one.

The tone deafness of the author continues a few pages later with the discussion of the “light skinned Robert [Harlan who] took advantage of his master’s indulgence to roam far from home.” It’s the phrasing that leaves a bad taste in my mouth- “master’s indulgence”…as if one were saying “what a kind and generous owner of human slaves that he lets them on a longer leash.” It’s disgusting.

“The Harlans…raised their children to be gentleman and ladies of an enlightened, refined civilization.” …>.> Again with the overt racism. The implied inferiority of the brown people and their unrefined barbaric civilizations who attack the upstanding white people who fear for their lives are is, again, ironic in a book about a champion of civil rights for people of color.

How is this any different than the colonialist idea of Manifest Destiny? The author goes on to describe how the “roots of this society” were “carved out of the wilderness.” As if the native peoples’ societies were wild and worthless. He admits that these roots were shallow, being “just a few decades removed from the control of the Shawnee” but that’s the extent of the discussion. He goes no farther.

I feel like you need to acknowledge the faulty foundation when you discuss someone who fought for civil rights/equality. Not pretend that the whole time this ideal of equality and justice *for all* was built in from the beginning and just misinterpreted at times. The book makes several mentions of “the Harlans’ belief in America - in the special destiny of the land that they loved” (to be continued)…

The author seems not cognizant of the fact that the foundation of the country was built on killing the people who were already here, taking their land, killing them when they fought back, stealing people from other continents and using their uncompensated slave labor to generate wealth, and then after slavery continuing to oppress and murder them for gain as well. This in a book about a champion of civil rights…