Stamped From The Beginning Book Review

"Would you consider Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, or Barack Obama racist people? Some Americans still believe that we are living in a non-racist society. However, racist thoughts are alive and well in America, only more sophisticated and insidious than ever. Historian Ibram X. Kendi asserts that if we have any hope of grappling with this reality, we must first understand how racist ideas were developed, spread, and preserved in American society.

Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-black racist ideas and their continuously growing power over the course of American history. Most dangerous of these, is the unwitting racism of well-meaning and proof that almost every person has innate racist ideas. A popular conception is that racist ideas arose from ignorance and hatred. Instead, Kendi argues they were devised and honed by some of the most brilliant minds of each era. Stamped from the Beginning uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to offer a window into the debates between racists and antiracists. 

While racist ideas are easily produced and consumed, they can also be discredited. In shedding much-needed light on the history of racist ideas, Stamped from the Beginning offers us the tools we need to expose them. An excellent book for educating yourself on unintentional racism with a long-term view on how racism started and evolved in America."

 - Dylan Dyer, CBC Graduate Student