Andr itibaren Starye Kiyeshki, Respublika Bashkortostan, Rusya itibaren Starye Kiyeshki, Respublika Bashkortostan, Rusya

Angela Davis is pretty awesome. I didn’t really know what to expect going into it, and it’s basically a historical examination of the intersection of struggles against sexism, racism, and classism. Or, more accurately, against slavery and lynching, against capitalism, and for woman suffrage and reproductive freedom. I think it’s interesting how Davis, at this point in time at least, certainly saw socialism (rooted in anti-racism and anti-sexism) as the answer to capitalist oppression. I really liked how she kept all three together in focus throughout the book and could critically engage the work of activists for one cause in light of the others – like how Frederick Douglass’s campaigning against slavery included a keen analysis of the unique situation of black women, but Susan B Anthony’s campaigning for woman suffrage violently ignored all non-white middle class women, despite her personal relationships with Douglass and Ida B Wells.

I enjoyed this book. True, it is no literary masterpiece, but it is the type of book I would have loved as a child. It had a few flaws but it kept me enthralled enough to read it in one sitting. It was a nice (albeit, somewhat dreary) little historical-fiction-within-historical-fiction novel. Nice escape from all the ghoul, vampire and dragon stories that are all the rage. Great book for girls.