Customer Reviews

Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil: My Life and Times in a Racist, Imperialist Society

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just have to laugh at some of the reviews on this book. Yes, the book is very opinionated but that's what makes the book fun to read. Do I agree w/ everything that is said NO, but I enjoyed reading someone else's point of view. The book if nothing else taught me to open my eyes, not everything you are told or taught is the complete truth. Give the book a try.

this is one of the most thought provoking books i've read in a very long time. her writing style is intelligent yet very accessable, i have a hard time reading a non-fiction book all the way through if it's not required reading, and this book i was so engrossed in i read it straight through cover to cover in about a week. i think everyone should read this, it might piss you off, you might find fault with some things she says but it's one of the books that makes you re-examine your beliefs, take a look beyond the obvious.

in response to the other reviewer who said history classes are not taught through a historic lense, that may be true for many college and university classes especially if the school tends to be liberal, i think what the author was talking about was specifically history taught in elementary, middle and high school, why else do they still teach that Columbus and all the other conquistadores as heroes that were exploring new lands as apposed to the mass murders and thieves that they reallly were.

This book was at times difficult to read as any book indictive of both American Domestic and Foriegn policy. History is not a pretty and noble rehash of heroic figures and landmark events. It is ugly and brutal, and the people who are called heroes are usually either not as heroic as we make them out to be or total villians. And the truth is something that we tend to overlook in favor of a continued fantasy. I found the most of the reviews to this book are reactionary and defensive. America isn't good to every American, you go into any military hospital, any street corner and see that. Inga isn't the first white author to voice her opinions and facts about American hedgemony and operational racism. Anybody read Derrick Jensen's The Culture of Make Believe? Anybody read any books by Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky? People don't read enough and what we do read mostly is crap that further advances our misconceptions about what's really going on. And "Amerikkka" term has been in use for years so it's not so "scandalous" It was actually the title of bad 70's movie. But of course if you don't know something you speculate or go with emotion. Whether you agree with Inga or not, you have to read and at least be aware of a different point of view. And don't believe everything you hear, see, or even read. Another point that Inga makes. She doesn't care if you believe her or not, or accept some of the truths she points out. Yes there is still police brutality, Yes our government and system is geared towards people with lots of money and the "right" racial background. Yes there is rampant homophobia, Yes Black and Latino men are heavily discriminated against and it's systematic. By acknowledging these very real problems we can all work towards resolving them. But what I see mostly, (the past reviews) are people burying their heads in the sand and saying everything is all right when it isn't. For certain people this is easy to do, for myself and other minorities, we do not have this luxury.

This book is a must read for everyone. For me it was part educational (I learned a lot about what has happened historically as well as what's happening today) and part a soul changing experience.

When I finished the book I immediately went out and bought lots of copies of it for everyone from my dad to my friends to my teenager and continue to recommend it to everyone I know.

It is one of the most thought provoking books I've ever read. It's a great book to discuss with friends. It is intelligent but also easily readable by virtually anyone. Inga writes from her heart and when you read her books you can feel her in your own heart.

Again, an absolute MUST read. But it for everyone you love! Inga is my shero.

Yet another amazing book written by the queer-glam Inga Musico. This book really opened my eyes to something that I've tried to ignore for my entire adult life: White normativity. It's real, and Inga speaks truthfully and honestly about it.

Inga Muscio takes our imperalist, racist, sexist, ecocidal and genocidal culture to task once again in her latest book. Heartfelt, passionate, right-on and meticulously researched, Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil focuses intently upon white supremacist culture and its devastating, malignant repercussions. It is a must-have for folks trying to get a firm grasp on what's wrong with our civilization. Muscio has a gift for being so very real and honest in her work, and her amazing personality shines through in this book, giving the reader an intimate portrait of the author's struggle and pain in the face of such enormously mind-numbing and heart-ripping history. I have nothing but admiration for Muscio and nothing but praise for this latest work of hers.

If one is about the business of seeking justice and correctness in life, particularly in america, then this author's book is worth the price and time to read. The author puts regurgitates and puts forth images and currently presented societal evidence of what can be considered world history by europeanized standards. While there is the current trend to put forth the alternative view of this amalgam called american history and all the people's contribution, the question of personal responsibility, solutions to the mess that was created and next steps has been missing. This author does a competent job in letting the reader do the critical thinking necessary to further prove and or dispute what is known about who's who and what's what in regards to history. Be prepared to deal with some unhealed wounds.

Don't believe any of that nonsense about how you cannot judge a book by its cover (or title for that matter). This book is a dud to prove that you can. There will be those who will call me a racist, a bigot, a rightwinger, etc. Fair enough, I know who I am (and actually I do not consider myself any of these). There will be those who will accuse of me of having not read the book, when I did. Or rather, I read enough of it. With this book, you don't need to read much more than the first ten pages or so to pick up the author's argument, put it down and draw your own conclusions. What we have here is a self-righteous hipster talking about experiencing history as a series of disconnectednes, quoting Chomsky, Zinn, Loewen et al. endlessly (i.e. the same things that almost every single revisionist historian do), making the same point over and over again, and seeming to think that repeating herself three times qualifies as a legitimate form of argumentation. I'm not sure how seriously anyone can be taken who proclaims (on her website) something as idiotic as "I love America because Derrick Jensen/Howard Zinn/Alice Walker/(insert prominent leftwing icon) were born there." Leaving aside the obvious question of what difference it would make had they been born elsewhere, let me try this: "I hate Branau, Austria because Hitler was born there! I hate Predappio, Italy because Mussolini was born there!" (Are you cogitating deep thoughts, yet?) Didn't think so. Yes, it is true that she is not the first white author to think that presenting what she learned in Revisionist History 101 is somehow 'speaking truth to power'; numerous other 'social justice crusaders' (read trendy hipster morons) have discovered that there is a veritable market for Marxism and have followed (or rather preceded) Inga's lead.

It is my opinion that it is time for white people (and particularly someone who lives in Portland, Oregon, where more than 80% of the population is white) need to get over this ridiculously juvenile infatuation for self-loathing, guilt, and self-hatred (the unbearable whiteness of being) and this whole fetishization of the other (the notion of pre-Columbian utopia, that Jesus was black, etc). No intelligent person who actually knows about the real history of the U.S. denies that America IS, to be sure, a racist and imperialist society, but writing 500 + pages that make the same claim (history is told from the standpoint of the victors; we've all been brainwashed by the history taught in schools) over and over again is not going to improve or promote racial understanding. Finally, anyone who thinks that conspiracy theory has even a shred of intellectual merit, does not document her sources (like all real historians do), and spells America 'Amerikkka' cannot have her work taken seriously.

I liked this book for the most part. She can be a tad dramatic at times (talking to the ocean, etc.) and I think she thinks she's being mindblowingly scandalous by calling America "Amerikka," but for the most part it was good. Except for one thing: I think she just makes some stuff up. Go on any comprehensive search engine you can find and see if you find any results about the pregnant Puerto Rican police officer who rescued people from Ground Zero. Email Inga and ask her about the pregnant Puerto Rican police officer who rescued people from Ground Zero. Nothing. I'm pretty sure she just made that up. Which is pretty corny.

Also, Ice Cube put out a CD 16 years ago titled Amerikkka's Most Wanted. In one of the songs he contemplates kicking a girl who's seven months pregnant in the stomach. Why? So he won't have to pay child support. I feel that anyone who consistently calls America "Amerikkka" can't be all that logical or bright.

I bought this book in expectation i would find out alot about the liberal marxist train of thought. As a conservative I use Sun Tzu's a theme of "know your enemy' to understand what make radical liberals think. I found it difficult to follow at times, because muscio goes off on some ridiculous tangents. I kind of feel that the author is so stricken by her own cutting edge wisdom that she tends to get too cute. I find it hard for those who risk virtually nothing (intellects in the western world), to criticize those who risk everything (say our american founding fathers). Failure to write a good book means a marginal financial profit, failure to win a revolution means certain death. Her absolute hatred of "whiteness" and "amerikkka" is a bit over the top. Apparently "Amerikkka" nor "white men" have any redeeming qualities. People of letters need to refrain from making such generalizations. What I got from this book is a rallying cry for indians, asians, blacks, gays, all women, all people of color, and transgendered people to unite against the "imperialist white man". And if the "imperialist white man" does not want to get steamrolled he better become more diverse, gay friendly, support reparations, and eunuchs. I basically got what I thought I was going to get. An attempt to take history from the victors and rewrite it as the history of the victims. Cute, nice effort but it fell way short.