Review of 'Dixie Be Damned: 300 Years of Insurrection in the American South' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I am a history nerd and yet I was unaware of almost everything in this book. Did you know that Tennessee miners broke into jails and released people being used as convict labor? I didn't.
When we learn about the south it is about slaves, slave owners, KKK, and the (supposedly) nonviolent civil rights movement. It is rare that we learn about insurrections, especially if they don't fit the convenient narratives around race, gender, and class. This book is a good start at addressing that absence.
It also challenged my thinking in ways that I wasn't expecting. I'm an anarchist, but not an insurrectionist. I'm still not convinced. But I definitely had to take a step back and reevaluate some of my gut reactions. And that is a good thing.
Definitely a book to read if you are interested in justice, how things change, and how history is hidden or …
I am a history nerd and yet I was unaware of almost everything in this book. Did you know that Tennessee miners broke into jails and released people being used as convict labor? I didn't.
When we learn about the south it is about slaves, slave owners, KKK, and the (supposedly) nonviolent civil rights movement. It is rare that we learn about insurrections, especially if they don't fit the convenient narratives around race, gender, and class. This book is a good start at addressing that absence.
It also challenged my thinking in ways that I wasn't expecting. I'm an anarchist, but not an insurrectionist. I'm still not convinced. But I definitely had to take a step back and reevaluate some of my gut reactions. And that is a good thing.
Definitely a book to read if you are interested in justice, how things change, and how history is hidden or repackaged to make it harder to learn its lessons.