The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (National Book Award Winner)

Read just the prologue and your views on racism, but also on other messages of power and exclusion, will change forever.
But don't stop there. Reading year by year, idea by idea, voice by voice development of racism is more chilling than learning about the history of slavery and Jim Crow in high school history. The racism of both the supporters of slavery who spouted segregation but also of the abolitionists who spouted the more subtle racism of assimilation is examined in detail. You realize how much that we thought was anti-racist says that black people aren't genetically different but can become like us if we teach them how, totally discounting the strength and beauty of African culture, the role of racism in creating the living conditions that we blame on black nature, and the inherent racism of white paternalism.
And I apologize that I have been white for most of my life. This prevents me from having the precise focus on black racism that Prof. Kendi achieves. But it does allow me to find applications for Kendi's approach in gender, religious, and LGBT oppression.

Stamped from the Beginning makes an important contribution to our dialogue on race relations in America. Having lived through the Civil Rights Era, I didn't think I had much to learn about racism, but Dr Kendi offered a fresh way of looking at racist ideas, including, surprisingly, my own.

This book eloquently underscores why and how race and racism is genuinely a false concept, as well as a socially suicidal tool of a knowing elite and the willfully ignorant masses of any ethnicity. Stamped From the Beginning is also truly worthy of a Pulitzer. Moreover, it fully affirms assertions by both former US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice ("America's birth defect.") and former US Attorney General Eric Holder ("a nation of cowards."). Yes, this book is a "Definitive History" that must be on everyone's bookshelf.

This is a very well written work. I definitely see why it has won the National Book Award for Non-Fiction among other nominations. But, like many contemporary books written on the topic of anti-black racism and pan-Africanism, it suffers from incomplete research, depth, and nuance on the subject of medieval Arab perspectives on "Africans", especially views expressed by Ibn Battuta and Ibn Khaldun. Toward the beginning of Kendi's work when speaking of the Arab conquest of North Africa, while juxtaposing indigenous African civilization with that of Arabia, he neglects to underscore the fact that Songhay, Mali, and Ghana were not merely "African" empires. They were African "Muslim" empires. This attempt to disassociate their flourishing from Islam is characteristic of many anti-Arab anti-Muslim Africanist writers. Kendi clearly believes that Arabs were a white race, saw themselves as such, and even were intent on reinforcing positive "white" stereotypes and negative "black" stereotypes. The reality is that the original Arabs---or the very Arabs who conquered North Africa---were brown-skinned people. The very commander, 'Amr b. al-'As, who conquered Egypt was the son of an Ethiopian mother, and his uterine brother from the same mother, 'Uqbah b. Nafi', conquered lands west of Egypt and founded the Tunisian city of Kairouan. The Arabs of old considered "whites" to be the people of Europe, Persia, and Syria. And, there is plenty in the works of Arab historians, lexicographers, and literati that show that Arabs neither saw themselves as a subspecies of whites nor did they deem themselves to be inferior to them. On the contrary, Arabs considered themselves and their civilization superior to others. Kendi, like other Africanists, clearly has applied contemporary conceptions of race to the premodern period, especially North American conceptions of "black" and "white." The reality is that both Ibn Battuta and Ibn Khaldun had specific Africans in mind when they spoke negatively of them. This, of course, is not meant to justify any unsolicited critique of any geographical group that either of them may have had. But, Kendi reaches too far in trying to make their ideas and theories cause for reinforcing anti-black sentiment. Ibn Khaldun has plenty of good things to say about the empires of Mali, Songhay, and Abyssinia. His negative comments about "Negros" are directed mainly against sub-saharan naked cannibals encountered by Arabs in the distant past, not all of those we consider "black" today. Ibn Khaldun also rejects the curse of ham myth and the idea of Ham being the direct descent of black skinned people. What further undermines Kendi's allegations launched against Ibn Khaldun and other Arab scholars is the very fact that Ibn Khaldun attributes similar uncivilized or savage attributes to the Slavs. If he was attempting to attribute civilizational superiority to white skinned people---instead of theorizing the relative industriousness of a people based upon the effects of climate, he would have not characterized Slavs in the way he did. He would have had nothing negative to say about them. In addition, Kendi provides no evidence that Ibn Battuta's positive statements about the great west African empires was "an abhorred oddity" as he claims. There's much more that can be said about this. But, this aspect of the work is a glaring flaw to me. Writers like Kendi will need to tone down their passions and preconceived assumptions about Arabs, Islam, and the spread of Islam in Africa if there is hope to offer a truly objective work on the topic of anti-blackness. I say this as an African American Muslim myself. Other than that, I find this work exceptional, although I'm certain there are more that can be critiqued in it.

Just received book and excited to read but concerns me that it’s not noted it may have errors and what I might run across in book. I like a good deal and it is a great price on book but transperancy goes a long way, just be honest if these are copies that may have an error (or more than one?).

This is an excellent book for understanding how racist ideas were created and maintained in the the US. and the world. It is often shocking involving names that are familiar and not so familiar who were purveyors of the immoral narrative that was/is the legacy of racist ideas in the U.S. The text time and again relays how people of color AND women have been constantly kept between a rock and a hard place when it comes to just living a calm, peaceful, and fulfilling life. If one wanted to understand the reality of institutional racism, this book is a must read.

Reads like a non-fictional historical account of which makes for an easier read. However, the author's style of writing seems to blurr lines between opinion and actual events. Gives a detailed historical perspective as to recurring contemporary racial challenges. A personal must read for anyone looking to understand how we can grow past racial differences and accept one another as one and the same.

I am

I consider myself well read, especially regarding black history. Yet,this book capsuled every important American incident that changed the making of racial relations. Detailed,nuanced, and facts brought to our attention never before mentioned in polite politics.

"Stamped from the Beginning" introduced me to new ideas and to reconsider some old ideas. This book is a must-read for people of all races, especially those of us who seek to break down stereotypes and gain a deeper meaning of ourselves and those who are different from us.

Well researched and written in a style that is easy to understand and follow. Helps to realign the basis for establishing and propagating using a concept of differences and variations in the human race to promulgate abuses and concepts of inferiority as a basis for conquest and greed.

This National Book Award winner is intelligent, far-reaching and persuasive in its anti-racist message. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to end racism, sexism, homophobia, etc in America. An excellent historical review of key Americans and their impact on racism in America. Ultimately, ends on an optimistic note, with some excellent recommendations on the path forward.

Well researched and written in a style that is easy to understand and follow. Helps to realign the basis for establishing and propagating using a concept of differences and variations in the human race to promulgate abuses and concepts of inferiority as a basis for conquest and greed.

This National Book Award winner is intelligent, far-reaching and persuasive in its anti-racist message. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to end racism, sexism, homophobia, etc in America. An excellent historical review of key Americans and their impact on racism in America. Ultimately, ends on an optimistic note, with some excellent recommendations on the path forward.

A great lesson. How much of my behavior and joking is racist. I thank Mr. Kendi for this learning experience. Now I have use what I learned into use. Not so easy as I am quick with jokes. But I will educate my self with a strong mind and effort. You should read this book...and learn.