A worthy contribution to the controversial discussions around how to compensate for crimes past and present.
A pointed study of the dissolution of slave economies in emancipation and the exceedingly long tail between so-called freedom and justice.
Tufts University historian Manjapra identifies five categories of emancipation, none of them quite satisfactory inasmuch as “the emancipations—the acts meant to end slavery—only extended the war forward in time.” None ever effectively erased the color line, and then there’s “the ghost line,” an extension of personal ghosting into the social sphere, wherein the “ghostliner” simply ignores the experience of formerly enslaved and currently oppressed peoples and insists on “ ‘unseeing’ the plundered parts, and ‘unhearing’ their historical demands for reparatory justice.” The author, born in the Caribbean of mixed African and Indian heritage, considers the forms of emancipation practiced by the British and French governments that compensated slaveholders for the loss of their putative property. In Colonial New York, this played out in numerous ways. For example, when enslaved people were manumitted, their former owners were required to post a bond for them in case they should ever become public wards, a charge they passed on to the freed people. As such, “they were ‘freed’ into the condition of having to pay their oppressors.” In some instances, enslaved people emancipated themselves, as with the uprising that led to the establishment of Haiti, whose slaveholder class the French government repaid for their losses without considering that reparations were due the formerly enslaved. “In its most banal expression,” Manjapra writes, “white supremacy is merely the wish among groups who benefited from slavery to continue to enjoy its spoils and privileges long after its formal death.” This supremacist stance self-evidently endures nearly 160 years after slavery was formally ended in the U.S., and reparations are still yet to materialize. “The struggle for reparatory justice,” the author concludes meaningfully, “belongs to the history of slavery and emancipation itself.”
A worthy contribution to the controversial discussions around how to compensate for crimes past and present.Pub Date: April 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982123-47-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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