Does anyone who has actually read it have anything to say about the actual book?

15 likes · like
5 years ago
11 answers

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Bri Branscomb I'm at the midway point, and I'd say that this book serves as little more than Republican or right-wing propaganda. Owens does a spectacular job at fear-mongering and twisting the context around some of the "facts" that she presents. For instance, one of her driving arguments is that LBJ (and by extension Democrats) set into place policy that broke apart black families and reinforced a black dependency upon government hand-outs. Not only does Owens reinforce the stereotype of the 'welfare queen' (which has been disproven multiple times), she also ignores the socioeconomic factors that go into the dissolution of the black nuclear family. I think the most marked evidence of this is in her neglect to mention the War on Drugs and subsequent mass incarceration that disproportionately placed Black men in prison. Her arguments are largely intellectually dishonest and not rooted in fact, but rather in personal opinion. If there's one thing to be said, it's that the book essentially stands to be Owens' personal platform for her own tokenization and moral posturing. She never once defends the Black community nor criticizes American racism: she seemingly hates Black Americans and wants everyone to know it.

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David I'm in the middle of this book, and I've found it to be essentially right-wing propaganda. She's very good at making sweeping statements and pretending they're fact without a lick of support evidence.

Her "logical framework" is primarily emotions-driven, as she gets the reader worked up over a topic and moves to a tangential topic without ever justifying the connection.

Overall, to love this book is to embrace a worldview designed to keep you comfortable rather than one that exposes you to how racism, or any bias, works inside of a social system.

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Paul Herring Reading now! It's great!

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Camilla I'm reading it. I love this book so much. It's well-written and really engaging!!

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Susan I've read it and posted a review. It's a very good book

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Brenda Palmer Very well spoken and logical framework for the question posed.

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Sandra I actually read it and was quite disappointed. It is emotionally driven, lacking concrete evidence and with many overarching statements.

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Therese Read it and posted a review. I love it. Great book. She gives great examples and everything is backed by statistics etc. This is not just her opinion or feelings.

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