Customer Reviews

Overturning the Culture of Violence

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As a white person, I found this book to be very challenging. It is an exhaustively researched history of the murder, theft and betrayal on which this country is founded and maintained. The bibliographies are extensive and the argument for reparations is compelling.
The author constantly fast forwards to expain the consequences of our bloody history for today's world. An overriding theme is her indictment of U.S. domestic and foreign policies right up through the present day war on drugs. After reading this, it will be hard to argue that the U.S. has ever believed in democracy for all, or that it has ever fought a just war anywhere in the world.
Equally disturbing and astounding is the history of betrayal of oppressed peoples by every sector of the white population - liberals and conservatives, gays and straights, men and women, Jews and gentiles, workers and elites, etc.
Penny Hess clearly has contributed to the forward motion of white people's knowledge of who we are in the world and how we can change that into something positive.
HAVE THE COURAGE TO READ THIS BOOK.

I've given this book to several friends and have ended up reading it over again with them. We've had some really great conversations because of this book. I continue to get more out of it each time I read it. You could say that it has almost become a reference guide for information since I also find myself reaching for it when I need to remember significant dates and historical references. I agree with what other reviews have already said, that it is challenging to me as a white person and that it really unveils the ugly truths about our history. I think it challenges white people to not be defensive about the truth. But also I found this book to be really beautiful because it tells so much about how other people around the world have lived - so much that I never learned about before - never saw in any textbooks growing up. I also found it very exciting because, if you're open to it, it shows how we can begin to look at our real history square in the face and be part of 'overturning' it. I think that this book is ideal for you if you are interested in seeing unity in this country and around the world.

This book is heartfelt, bold, and a well-documented volume that uncovers the history of America and capitalism from the perspective of African and oppressed peoples. I highly recommend it to everyone. I also really liked it because unlike most mainstream books, it didn't try to cater to the sentiments of the general U.S. (white) population.

Anyone who wants a fresh perspective on U.S. history, World History, Slavery, the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, the Sixties, the "War on Drugs," police brutality and the prison system, should order and read this book. It is critical of white people when many books refuse to be critical of the actions of regular white people in history and the present. I say that as a white person.

I am very thankful that Penny Hess did the research and also utilized her knowledge that she's gained from her activism to write this book. I also appreciate that there is an organization that is struggling for social change that is behind the words.

There are eight chapters to the book that each are loaded with details from history and references to other books. This book is well worth the money and I encourage everyone to get it for themselves, their friends, their parents, their children, their schools and discussion groups to read. It has the following chapters:

1. The Inescapable Dialectic
2. Broken Spears
3. Black Power and the White Man's Game
4. Counterinsurgency: War Against Oppressed Peoples
5. Genocide in Modern Form
6. A Mother's Cry
7. The Battle of St. Petersburg
8. Reparations Now!

Despite the terrible history of genocide and slavery and oppression that this book describes, it really puts forward a positive vision of the future that I think everyone can embrace.

I think Overturning the Culture of Violence is a crucial book for us to read to also understand why the rest of the world would hate people in the United States. The events of September 11th make this even more necessary if we are talking about building a world that is not based on "haves" and "have-nots" and one where all people can live in justice and in peace.

Read this book in 2002. It will open your eyes!!

This book contained a wealth of wonderful information - lots of history I was never previously exposed to. It also talked about conditions in the world today and left me with the sense that the things I see and hear about every day, but tend to look away from - homelessness and poverty, unjust imprisonment - that these things are not "just the way it is", that a better world is possible. This book helped me to better understand how interconnected we all are, how without necessarily intending to, I play a role in maintaining the suffering of other people, and how I have an opportunity to play a different role. It's challenging for anyone to look at themselves, and the role they play in society, with a critical eye, but I think it's necessary to move forward and I appreciate this book for challenging me to do that.

The first thing I noticed as I read this book were the things that I see everyday, only now from the perspective of an oppressed people. As I continued, I actually felt my own paradigm shifting toward something that most people in the world experience on a daily basis-- how warped we (whites) are, and how desperately we need to do something to change.

Shocking and groundbreaking! Overturning the Culture of Violence covers the span of African-American history from ancient Africa to contemporary African-American history in the U.S. Hess offers what most U.S. historians omit, a report of history told by oppressed peoples, namely, African-Americans. Although at times repetitive, Hess accounts for a voice muted throughout America's history. And although biased, the essence of the book's subjectivity stems from the unwillingness of the U.S. government and most historians to honestly document the African-American past in the United States. Hence the requirement for its subjectivity and one-sidedness, to refrain from implementing any historical perspective unique from the African-American perspective. And therefore Hess affirms what most historically educated U.S. citizens fail to grasp, the extremes and long-term consequences of institutionalized racism and prejudice. Hess attempts to reveal possible correlations between African-American's historical life of injustice and their current condition. Ultimately, this book encourages the reader to question whether modern identities of citizenship are partially inherited from former socially and economically advantaged generations. There appears to be very few, if any, clearer links between the past and present which bridge the gap between historical and modern notions of social, civic, economic, and political identities. Overturning the Culture of Violence is a fresh perspective written not by the winners or losers, but rather by the historically exploited who continue to strive for their own definitions of justice through economic equality. Hess proposes potential solutions for the African-American community through Reparations. Due to the prevalence of economic destitution among African-Americans, it seems necessary for such an idea to be considered seriously, as Hess does, for the greater good of humanity, and hope for a future of an ideal society for all, which democracy entails. Overturning the Culture of Violence is shocking, and will challenge the reader's factual consciousness of African-Americans in history, African-Americans today, as well as how the reader recognizes his or her own identity.

This book was completely different from other history books. It was highly valuble for me because it challenged my social constructs of race. I think it's an inspiring read for anyone.

This is a must read for anyone! One of the most powerfull books of our time!

Why is this book anti-Historical? because the authors focus is not concerend with historical balance and truth. In the author's opinion only one race has committed the various crimes of war, racism, slavery and genocide. This race, according to Hess, needs to be punished, not only by paying a fine, reparations; but by acknowledging that all members of that race are racist by birth. To Hess the white race is forever guilty, much like the Eternal Jew. Hess is unable to see or understand that slavery, genocide, racism, war sexism are part of the human condition. So called people of color share in this..Just read the History of Africa and Asia.
This author offers nothing new but white self hatred and a false guilt (read some of the other posts). Take a tour of our ghettos and see black culture at its best!