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  • How to Be an Antiracist

  • Written by: Ibram X. Kendi
  • Narrated by: Ibram X. Kendi
  • Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (604 ratings)

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How to Be an Antiracist

Written by: Ibram X. Kendi
Narrated by: Ibram X. Kendi
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Publisher's Summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a “groundbreaking” (Time) approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society and in ourselves—now updated, with a new preface.

“The most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind.”—The New York Times

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—The New York Times Book Review, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Shelf Awareness, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews

Antiracism is a transformative concept that reorients and reenergizes the conversation about racism—and, even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. At its core, racism is a powerful system that creates false hierarchies of human value; its warped logic extends beyond race, from the way we regard people of different ethnicities or skin colors to the way we treat people of different sexes, gender identities, and body types. Racism intersects with class and culture and geography and even changes the way we see and value ourselves. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi takes listeners through a widening circle of antiracist ideas—from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities—that will help listeners see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves.

Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science with his own personal story of awakening to antiracism. This is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond the awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a just and equitable society.

©2019 Ibram X. Kendi (P)2019 Random House Audio

What the critics say

“What do you do after you have written Stamped From the Beginning, an award-winning history of racist ideas? . . . If you’re Ibram X. Kendi, you craft another stunner of a book. . . . What emerges from these insights is the most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind, a confessional of self-examination that may, in fact, be our best chance to free ourselves from our national nightmare.”The New York Times

How to Be an Antiracist couldn’t come at a better time. . . . Kendi has gifted us with a book that is not only an essential instruction manual but also a memoir of the author’s own path from anti-black racism to anti-white racism and, finally, to antiracism. . . . How to Be an Antiracist gives us a clear and compelling way to approach, as Kendi puts it in his introduction, ‘the basic struggle we’re all in, the struggle to be fully human and to see that others are fully human.’”—NPR

“Kendi dissects why in a society where so few people consider themselves to be racist the divisions and inequalities of racism remain so prevalent. How to Be an Antiracist punctures the myths of a post-racial America, examining what racism really is—and what we should do about it.”Time

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What listeners say about How to Be an Antiracist

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Should be required reading

This book should be required reading for everyone. The author reads with measured passion, deep honesty, and provides much history and material to help readers to spread the importance of being antiracist. I do not understand the previous review about voice actors. I don’t think there could have been a better voice to convey this message than the author’s own.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

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17 people found this helpful

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Highly recommended!

Excellent reading for anyone looking to understand more about how to be an ally to BIPOC. Should be required reading for white folks. I love that it’s read by the author himself and he does an excellent job with it!

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11 people found this helpful

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good content, bad narration

The contents of the book were very eye opening and I learned a lot as a result. it really helped with understanding a side of the story I hadn't before


However, the narrator, often, randomly pauses, while he reads. As if there are commas like in the sentence above. It's quite aggregvating at times.

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6 people found this helpful

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Clear Eyed, Honest, and Vital

Stamped from the Beginning is a masterpiece of history, and this is a masterpiece of political and social thought. Be open to his ideas, and open to change.

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4 people found this helpful

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READ this one

Dr. Kendi is brilliant and you will learn so much by reading this book. I’m going to pick up a print copy. Unfortunately I found Dr. Kendi’s style of narration distracting. It is halting with odd phrasing like he didn’t know what word cane next. There are also times when his passion is high pitched and uncomfortable to listen to. Not sure where the Director was but I don’t think everyone who writes a brilliant book should read it. The content however is insightful and quite accessible as Dr. Kendi pairs it with his own awakening. Great. He deserves all the accolades.

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3 people found this helpful

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Wish I Bought The Book

This is a must-read for every person of every race and ethnicity! It is the perfect education and call to action! I only wish I had purchased the physical book 1) because I believe it would be beneficial to have pages to reference so I could deep-dive into the policies he refers to and 2) because it was the most painful thing to listen to. There is so much staccato, I’d highly suggest listening at 1.3x the speed!
Nevertheless, this is an outstanding book. I absolutely love and admire Ibram’s organization and presentation of ideas!

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NECESSARY reading, for ALL ethnicities/colours

This book is PERFECT!!! It being read by the author is the icing on the cake. Kendi does an EXCELLENT job of explaining simply, but without condescending to us (and with facts to back up what he says), the history of Blacks in America, the history of White racism in America, the ways in which racism has affected Blacks and Whites and others, and what this has to do with all of us, now. Kendi does not shy away from examining Black racism, nor both purposeful and inadvertent ways that Blacks have aided Whites in oppressing fellow Blacks. Impressively, Kendi freely admits his history of expressing and assisting racism against Blacks, beginning when he was a youth.
How to Be an Antiracist is also VERY relevant to Canada.

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2 people found this helpful

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Describes the problem and the solution

This is the fourth book I listened to on this topic and it’s now my favorite. It’s exhaustive in cataloging the flavors of racism and anti-racism, and I love how it comes together at the end: you don’t end racism by changing minds, but by changing racist policies to anti-racist policies. (This is stated in the earliest chapters, but, by the end of the book, you have the context to truly believe it.)

One caveat: if you’re looking for your first book discussing race and racism, You may want to first check out So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. I think it’s a more accessible introduction.

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Crucial content

The content is such necessary, important information. I increased the speed to 1.35. I personally found the slower speed and cadence of the narration irritating. Kendi's delivery is very much lecture style which is understandable since he is a professor. I found it came across as ranting which was a turn off for me. I will probably buy a hardcopy of the book because the content is so important.

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  • Sam
  • 2024-03-08

Something I needed to listen to

Ibram did an excellent job narrating and I learned so much from this. I watch a lot of video essays on YT and this feels like a very comprehensive video in audio form and that is seriously a huge compliment from me. I look forward to listening to his future works and taking his teachings into my own world view of being anti racist *Only critque is he likes After Earth which shook the film fancier in me*

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