The Complete Idiot's Guide to African American History

[helens78]

Confession: I am addicted to the "Idiot's Guide" series of books. I like the style, I like the straightforward manner in which the authors address their subjects, and I like getting a quick survey of my subject in about 300 pages. I learned to knit using The Complete Idiot's Guide To Knitting And Crocheting, have greatly enjoyed and put to use other IGs, and so I hope it will not seem too flippant to mention that I've recently finished reading The Complete Idiot's Guide To African American History by Melba J. Duncan.

In spite of the fact that the title will probably make people think, Oh, I can think of some people who need that!, this is not an introductory-level book. If someone either can't accept the notion of institutional racism as part of American daily life or is only just beginning to recognize it, this is not the book you want to give them. The author is very clear about institutionalized racism, its roots, its role throughout history, and its modern applications and ramifications. I found the observations about the historical roots of racism really eye-opening, but if someone pulls out the tone argument every time the topic of race comes up, he's going to throw this book across the room within the first dozen pages.

I felt the chapters on the years before the 1960s were a lot more interesting and revealing than the chapters which focused on later years; I spent the first third of the book thinking, Holy crap, I thought I knew something about the pre-Civil Rights era years! I was so, so wrong. But the material covering the 1960s and later was much thinner, possibly because the author realizes that a lot of it is living history to a lot of people, and those of us who grew up in the generation after are pretty familiar with the stories, too.

I'm a little cranky that there's an anti-Japanese racial slur quoted (context: the phrase "Germans and Japs" is the one phrase, not even an entire line, quoted from a poem written from the POV of an African-American soldier going to fight in World War II, with the rest of the poem summarized instead of quoted) without explanation. I also questioned the depth of study of Nation of Islam, considering the lengths to which the author studied Christianity -- even in sections on Malcolm X, very little was said about Nation of Islam, good or bad, which makes me wonder if the author simply didn't want to take the risk of offending them or offending their detractors. There were definitely some politics involved in the writing of this book; I got the impression there were quite a few topics the author shied away from, mostly in chapters on modern struggles of the African-American community, possibly due to not wanting to ruffle feathers, possibly because she was told not to ruffle feathers.

Ultimately, despite my love for the franchise, this isn't a book I would recommend -- at least not past the first 100 or so pages. It's too much a survey course, with not enough depth in later chapters, and I felt it didn't carry the powerful observations of the opening through to the end of the book.

Comments

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

See, after reading your review I'd still consider getting the book from the library. I use books to help fill in my clue gaps, so unevenness would be a minus mainly for my personal disappointment.

And for these kinds of books, it's hard to tell why some gaps exist. I would've assumed that the author simply knew more about the older stuff -- or suddenly realized that their page count would run too high if they used that much detail on the later years. It's really too bad that books don't offer DVD extras, which might explain at least some of these things.

[helens78]

Yes! I would love to hear more about her choices in this one.

And hey, you can certainly fill in clue gaps in this one! Another nice thing: she includes a bibliography of both print and web resources; it helps to have some breadcrumbs pointing at subject she might not have been able to explore in detail!

[sophinisba]

When I saw the subject line of this post I totally thought you'd decided to write a long LJ post about African American history, not that you'd read a book with that title. :D Thanks for the review! Like bibliofile said, it looks like it could be a good one to check out of the library (or even just page through at a bookstore) even if it is somewhat uneven.

[mollydot.livejournal.com]

This could be a book for me. I read a book I forget the title of, from the "for Beginners" series, and have decided that those books aren't beginner enough. I definitely learnt from it (especially about the transition from slavery to Jim Crow), but it was unclear in parts - jumping invisibly between dates, or assuming knowledge I didn't have (I don't know white America history either). I had similar problems with another book in the series, so I blame the series rather than the topic, author, or me.