Obviously due to current world events, the issues of black lives matter and Antiracist are at the forefront of a lot of people's minds. Racism is, and will continue to be, a global issue and one that everyone can educate themselves on. This book is just one of many that have read, and join part of my ongoing re-education into racism, white privilege and what I can do to change my ingrained racist thoughts.

What I really took away from How To Be An Antiracist was the idea that just because you are black doesn't mean you aren't racist. The examples set by one individual do not define a group as a whole. Kendi also supports his arguments with real life experiences, allowing the reader to formulate their own opinions whole reflecting on the personal issues expressed throughout the book. It makes the reader feel closer to the author, and perhaps better understand the range of feelings as well as personal growth that Kendi himself went through in order to present himself as Antiracist. He hasn't been perfect. He's made mistakes. But he's also learnt from others along the way, taken on board constructive criticism and come out of it stronger, more well informed and more importantly actively Antiracist.

Educational. Informative. Powerful. An essential read for those looking to open their minds and actively seek to be Antiracist.

This book was such an incredible joy to read. Sensitive but powerful. Heartfelt and yet heartbreaking. I found that I experienced a world of emotions while reading it, but came out the other side knowing the next steps. In a sense this book is a guide and it is a call to arms for all of us to take on the mantle of anti-racist. With the highly charged backdrop we now experience, this is absolutely a zeitgeist book, but is one that will go on and continue to equip and raise up the voices that right now we so need to hear. Ibram X Kendi is a great writer and his message is clear. Don't sit back. Be an antiracist.
Message received.

This was a super informative, thoroughly researched, readable book.
I appreciated how everything was so clearly defined, whilst being told (predominantly) through Kendi’s journey through education. This book includes real, specific examples of how to be antiracist and the importance of intersectionality in this fight.
I would recommend this for anyone looking to deepen their knowledge.

A great resource that helped me to "do the work" in challenging my own lack of action against racism. It's style is very accessible which means that whilst it still has the power to be uncomfortable, which is necessary to effect change, I wanted to stay engaged with it.

Such an appropriate read for the moment, I'm so grateful that this title came up on Netgalley. There is so much to address that I have felt during reading this book, but I will continue to think about what it has taught me about the world, and myself, for a very long time.

This book is a mix of biography, history and essays about being racist or anti-racist. It gives a very in depth and well researched look at racism and it really is eye opening.

This books suggests the idea that you may be racist because of the racist ideas that are in our society but we don’t become racist and we can change through “persistent self awareness, constant self criticism and regular self examination.” People may not realise they’re racist because it’s how the world is, it’s the norm but they can change. “Racist ideas define society.”

Each chapter presents a different aspect of racism and how it can be divided by things like gender and class. The personal story is interesting and engaging, exploring how the writer himself considered himself racist and wants to be anti racist.

This book made me look at things differently. It helped me to understand “privilege” privilege means that you are not judged by the colour of your skin. Another thing that made me think was his explanation about black living spaces that they are not full of crime, racism has built up this image of fear in these communities and you see it on tv and films often.

Although this book taught me a lot I did find it hard to follow at times, so many quotes and facts. It could be very wordy and the narrative went off on tangents. It’s about America and I don’t know enough about American history and past events to be able to understand some of this book.

Sometimes the repetition was off putting, just the repetition of a word or a certain sentence structure. I think that the author was trying to get his point across using repetition but I am of the opinion that less is more. I think that this book might not be accessible to everyone because the ideas are in a round about way. I think it would be a lot more influential if it was presented plainly. However this is the author’s style and helps shows his enthusiasm and main messages do get across.

I think the ideas are very important and it’s an educational book that is well worth taking the time to read if you’re looking for a book to learn more about racism.

Ibram Kendi's explanation of there being no neutral side to racism appeared to be a key aspect to the book.. The concept of 'you're either fighting against it or allowing it to occur' is very fascinating. It's a truth that everyone needs to learn, specifically people with white privilege. As a white person with privilege, it was such an interesting aspect to the novel when it explored Kendi's own experiences.

What a vitally important book.
This book has furthered my education on racism so much and the lessons I have learned will stay with me forever. Ibram X. Kendi did an incredible job with this book as it is so well researched, but does not come across as hard to read or too academic - even though it is an academic piece of work.

His brutal honesty about his own experiences and his battles to overcome the racist thoughts that were ingrained into him (along with sexism and homophobia) was so important as it highlighted how racism is like a cancer that we have to fight every day. He made a great comparison between racism and cancer which I thought was the perfect analogy.

It is not for me to review or assess whether this book was good or not (it definitely was) but this book was for me to learn from and I definitely have.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage for gifting me this e-book.

This is a book for me, as a white person that I read slowly and over much time, to take in what it had to say and so I could learn what I needed. It’s not easy reading, nor is it meant to be if you want to learn or change. It’s essential reading for people who want to make the changes needed and required for REAL change. A book I will go back to as this learning will never end and that is my responsibility.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is an invaluable exploration into issues of race and racism. It's particularly relevant and significant given recent global events.

Like many others, the Black Lives Matter protests led me to read ‘How to be an Antiracist’. It is not an easy read and I had to digest it in chunks. It glaringly highlights my ignorance of the development and history of racism and the many forms that racism takes. This book is invaluable in emphasising the work each of us have to do and the self awareness each of us have to have on an ongoing basis to be antiracist. It is informative (it is quite academic in parts) and enlightening as well as being part memoir. I am so glad I read it and know that I will come back and dip into again in the future in order to continue to inform my behaviour and commit to being antiracist. I also think this would be a really good listen on audiobook.

*Thank you to the author and NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

3 stars

This book achieved in making me reflect on my own life and smacked me with the honest, ugly truth about racism in its many forms and what it really takes to be "antiracist." Although the topic of the book is so important and it is a timely read right now, it was just okay, and I feel bad saying that considering what it's about. I don't know what in particular I didn't enjoy so much about it, I just feel like there's probably better books of a similar subject out there. I found it very repetitive, but that might have been intentional. There are a few other books on this topic out now which I want to try and see if I like them any better. That being said, it has given me a lot to think about.

Such an important book for our times. I would encourage everyone to read this if they are committed to doing the work to dismantle racism!

I think a lot of people are picking this up expecting it to be a handbook, from the title -- a list of actions you can take, a discussion of prejudice and the prejudiced things people can inadvertently do: something, in short, that tells you what to do. It isn't that. How to be an Antiracist is a memoir, which charts the journey of Kendi himself through both racist and antiracist thoughts, through all the things that shape his response today. There are definitely things here that can point to what you need to do (primarily taught through example: one of the important things to do is reflect on how your thoughts and actions could contribute to or fight against racism), but it isn't a recipe book.

Which is good: I don't think any single book can tell us what needs to be done, because Black people are not a single organism with one mind. Kendi believes that racism against white people is possible, for instance, which I know a lot of Black people disagree with (using the definition that racism requires power). Kendi lays heavy stress on changing racist policy (a term he prefers to "institutional racism") rather than confronting racist people or even racist actions. His theory is that social attitudes are informed by what policy dictates: he suggests that the changing of minds and hearts will come after a change in law, and changes to laws should not be held up to wait for the changes of attitude.

Kendi's also looking mostly at the way racism operates in the US; my impression is that while there are commonalities, things play out differently in different countries because of the different histories and policies. If you're going to read just one book on racism, I'm not convinced this is the right choice for everyone, even though the title makes it sound like a panacea.

It's true too that it isn't just a memoir: Kendi sets out each chapter carefully, beginning with a definition and then using examples (often from his own experiences) to illustrate the problem, how it affects people, and how he grapples with it and has grappled with it in the past. In some ways, you can treat it as a template -- because you can go through it and substitute your own experiences or those of people you know, and understand the same issue from where you're standing. But still, I'd say it's primarily memoir, and that accounts for the fact that it can be a little repetitive (we see the same issues and themes examined in different parts of Kendi's life) or unfocused.

For me, there were some snippets of history and culture that were new to me, partly because I'm not from the US; I think it's also worthwhile on that level, though it isn't a history book and doesn't delve deeply into it.

Overall, my feeling is that it's a worthwhile read, alone or as part of a little self-taught curriculum of books about racism and how it impacts people -- and how to be better, taught through example.

This book should be necessary reading for everybody. Kendi has masterfully explained here exactly what anti-racism is and how it differs from simply 'not racist'. The style of the book was more memoir based than I was expecting the first time I picked it up, but this is actually very useful. Kendi weaves specific examples in through each section, clearly illustrating how we can all do better, no matter how much we already may think we're doing. So much of modern racism is unintentional, implicit, small microaggressions etc and this is a useful guide for understanding and addressing many biases that unfortunately live within all of us.

Ibram X. Kendi delivers in this book what should be everyone's Biblel. It is not a book that you open and forget. On the contrary, it is a book that we must assimilate and apply, to make known so that all together, we can advance and truly transform our society. It is a book that makes us humble and that moves us because it reflects a universal will; peace because ultimately, if there is no more racism, peace can finally take place.

In 'How To Be an Antiracist', Ibram X. Kendi attempts to provide a meaningful guide and exposition of his position on race and racism which reconsiders the idea that one can be "not racist". There are so many interesting and important ideas explored throughout this book, ranging from the question of Anti-White racism to intersection of sexism and homophobia with racism (and conversely, antiracism.) However, his exploration is at times convoluted and self-contradictory, and his writing style is very repetitive.

A significant issue that I ran into with this book was the definitions, something which he spends a large portion of the book on. The definitions used are moreso to frame the perspective of a given chapter and provide further perspective on an issue, which means that they don't always follow the way the word is practically used. His definition of racism, for example, unites both policy and idea as necessary to its action. This is an argument he uses to support initiatives of positive discrimination. In essence, to treat equally is not to treat the same, a base of “antiracist policies”. However, the one I've always used is "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group" (Oxford Dictionary), which specifically does include discrimination. Kendi also includes multiple ‘definitions’ for the same word which are generally complementary but are not semantically indifferent. For example, antiracism is described both as “one who is supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing an antiracist idea” and “one who is expressing the idea that racial groups are equals and none needs developing, and is supporting policy that reduces racial inequity.” While both essentially describe being against policies and ideas which are racist, the latter narrows an “antiracist idea” to one which reduces “racial inequity.”

The use of statistics throughout this book illustrates the stark racial inequity between African-Americans and other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. While I found that these were useful and clearly demonstrated inequality, his use of statistics in general lacked nuanced contextualisation and the reader is left to assume that everything is down to racism which I believe oversimplifies the issues. Kendi also notes towards the end of the book that this is intentional - that to be antiracist one must view all racial inequity as the result of racist policy and not individual or generalised behaviours. Kendi here criticises the assimilationist belief that one should expect all racial groups to meet a certain standard or idealised pattern of behaviour. However, his own argument on racial inequity is contradictory to this as he measures equity using socioeconomic outcomes which are undoubtedly influenced by patterns of behaviour. If one is to expect and strive towards ensuring equality in rates of poverty and higher education between racial groups then you must also acknowledge that to achieve the same outcomes within the same society similar behaviour must be exhibited.

The repetitive sentence structures and formulaic chapters made this book hard to read for me, with Kendi often repeating 'to be', 'to understand', 'to believe' etc. at the start of each sentence in a paragraph. This would have been effective in a speech but after 10 chapters of it it got really boring. However, I found the writing became less repetitive and far more interesting from Gender and Queer racism onwards. 'Failure' and 'Success' were also some of my favourite chapters, because they focused on antiracist activism more practically, although still failing to specify actual policies which must be removed or introduced. Antiracist policy is a necessary goal for an antiracist movement, but his assertion that policy is the only way to make meaningful change takes power away from the individual. The vague idea of racist and antiracist policy isn’t even given actionable goals and actual proposals are sorely lacking. This combined to make it read more like ministry than politics.

The most useful takeaway from this book is that there is no in-between racism and antiracism - that one cannot claim to be a ‘not racist’ bystander. But you could get that from google. Among others, I did really enjoy the breakdown of systemic racism as a notion and the effects of using it in discussion because it's often a concept which people assume to be understood and proven without it ever being explained. So, if you’d like to understand some of the vocabulary and ideology of the current conversation around race, this is certainly a useful read, Above all, this book always encouraged self-reflection on the racist or antiracist ideas we have held or continue to hold and this self-reflection is the main reason I'm giving it 3 stars - we could all do with a little introspection.

I would like to thank Ibram X. Kendi, NetGalley and Random House UK for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

as many people are turning to books to educate themselves on issues that have been happening for far too long, how to be an antiracist is one that will be a great resource and extremely helpful to many people. that's not to say ibram x kendi sugarcoats anything, it's not a comfortable read, and it covers a huge range to perspectives and areas that i hadn't considered before, so i feel like i learned a lot

kendi weaves his personal life story as a black man in america along with a history of racism, starting from henry the navigator creating the trans-atlantic slave trade from portugal in the 14th century, through the centuries to the civil rights movements in the 20th century, and into present day. there are also a number of statistics that really hammer the points being made home. the inclusion of his own experiences at school, at college, in the workplace, add a layer to the book that i really appreciated it, particularly the ending

i would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a comprehensive history of racism with a focus on america as well as an interesting look at a man's life

As someone who is trying to broaden their knowledge on the black lives matter movement I felt this book was a little more academic rather than an introductory book about racism. The first few chapters were really good in trying to establish what an anti-racist is but I did feel like I lost my way with this book later on.

This book was also a lot more memoir based than I had expected as well. I do feel like maybe the book would have been better presented as a long essay rather than a full length book so as to not lose impact and clarity.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I've always thought of myself as a non-racist, but after reading this book I can only hope that the whole world reads it too and that we all strive to be anti-racist. In the beginning many facts are discussed, but the story becomes more and more personal and interesting to read. This book is important to everyone, regardless of origin, and I will recommend it as much as possible.