This is a really ambitious work. Most historians could not call themselves experts on such a long period of time, even when narrowing themselves to one topic like racism. If it were a textbook, which it honestly could be, it would be updated every couple of years to make corrections and refine the content. All that being said, I don't think people should go into this expecting every single statement to ring true. Instead, it is a timeline that gives you just enough information to do your own research into the topics that interest you most.

I really enjoyed all of the pre-Civil War content. If you are really well-educated on racism and modern American History, then I don't think Kendi provides any new facts or meaningful interpretations in his post-Civil War content. This was also where I noticed my biggest issue with the book. At times, Kendi will provide a personal interpretation or opinion on facts without taking the time to explain to the reader how he got there. I think with most artistic works, that explanation is required. We may all agree on his interpretation of a book as popular and embedded in American culture as Uncle Tom's Cabin, but many of the books and films he references do not have singular interpretations as he presents them.

And, I was actually offended and saddened when he did this on his extremely brief coverage of Bo Derek and her braids, and glibly claims that women who relax their hair are hypocrites for appropriating European culture. When a black woman adopts the most widely accepted beauty standard in her home country, she is not appropriating, she is assimilating. And it's not even an assimilation to European beauty standards. Long, straight hair is a nearly global beauty standard. The differences between assimilation and appropriation should be obvious to someone who wrote over 500 pages on assimilation racism. It honestly stunk of sexism for both him and his editor to seek out an opportunity to call black women hypocrites instead of working on the assumption that black women are educated enough to understand the definition of appropriation.

But, like with his unsupported literature and film critiques which were just hard to follow rather than offensive, I'll blame the speed at which he's trying to cover all of these topics. If you're only spending a few paragraphs on a topic, you're more likely to get something wrong

All that being said... This did encourage me to read more about Africa's history and Ida B. Wells. I'll likely buy a physical copy so I can give it a closer read someday and uncover more topics to read about and research.