British, Afua Hirsch
British, Afua Hirsch
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Brit(ish)
On Race, Identity and Belonging

Author: Afua Hirsch

Narrator: Afua Hirsch

Unabridged: 11 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/01/2018

Synopsis

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Brit(ish): Why We Need to Talk About Race written and read by Afua Hirsch.

Afua Hirsch is British. Her parents are British. She was raised, educated and socialised in Britain. Her partner, daughter, sister and the vast majority of her friends are British. So why is her identity and sense of belonging a subject of debate? The reason is simply because of the colour of her skin.

Blending history, memoir and individual experiences, Afua Hirsch reveals the identity crisis at the heart of Britain today. Far from affecting only minority people, Britain is a nation in denial about its past and its present. We believe we are the nation of abolition, but forget we are the nation of slavery. We sit proudly at the apex of the Commonwealth, but we flinch from the legacy of the Empire. We are convinced that fairness is one of our values, but that immigration is one of our problems.

Brit(ish) is the story of how and why this came to be, and an urgent call for change.

'Brit(ish) is a wonderful, important, courageous book, and it could not be more timely: a vital and necessary point of reference for our troubled age in a country that seems to have lost its bearings. It’s about identity and belonging in 21st-century Britain: intimate and troubling; forensic but warm, funny and wise.' - Philippe Sands

Reviews

Goodreads review by Paul on April 01, 2023

From one of the judges of the 2019 Booker Prize In Britain, we are taught not to see race. We are told that race does not matter. We have convinced ourselves that if we can contort ourselves into a form of blindness, then issues of identity will quietly disappear. ... We want to be post-racial, without......more

Goodreads review by R. on April 23, 2023

First and foremost, I need to say that this book is extremely relevant to understand the contemporaneous British context, especially amid the whole Brexit catastrophe. That being said, I believe there is room for improvement. Firstly, it tends to feel repetitive. I understand that the whole point of......more

Goodreads review by Trevor on April 21, 2019

If you are a particularly busy person and only have time to read one book on this subject, then you should read Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala. It is better written and packs in more information per page. This provides more of a look at the genteel version of racism that nic......more

Goodreads review by Dannii on September 29, 2022

Actual rating 4.5/5 stars. This wonderfully insightful book reads as part-memoir, part historical text. It focuses on the history of British slavery and colonialism as well as the trials faced by different ethnic groups in Britain today. It also focuses on Hirsch's personal experiences as a black wom......more

Goodreads review by Eleanor on January 11, 2018

Afua Hirsch's memoir/work of cultural analysis, Brit(ish) (can we talk about the genius of that title?), is out on the 1st of February. Hirsch's heritage is mixed: her mother is Ghanaian and her father the child of German Jewish refugees. Both her parents had a strong cultural identity of their own,......more

Quotes

Brit(ish) is a wonderful, important, courageous book, and it could not be more timely: a vital and necessary point of reference for our troubled age in a country that seems to have lost its bearings. It’s about identity and belonging in 21st-century Britain: intimate and troubling; forensic but warm, funny and wise.

Brit(ish) brings together a thoughtful, intelligent, accessible, informative investigation on Britain as a nation not only in the midst of an identity crisis but in denial of what it has been and still is.

Memoir, social analysis and an incisively argued challenge to unconscious biases: this is a truly stunning book on racial identity by a remarkable woman.

[A] bracing and brilliant exploration of national identity … Through her often intensely personal investigations, she exposes the everyday racism that plagues British society, caused by our awkward, troubled relationship to our history, arguing that liberal attempts to be colour-blind have caused more problems than they have solved. A book everyone should read: especially comfy, white, middle-class liberals. The Bookseller, Editor's Choice

This is less a polemic about the past than an attempt to illuminate the problems of the present. Hirsch is exacting in her observations of how this history manifests itself today... This is a fierce, thought-provoking and fervent take on the most urgent questions facing us today. Financial Times

A warm, informative and occasionally heart-wrenching blend of the personal and the political, and the messiness in between the two... She asks some uncomfortable questions, challenging us as individuals, the government, institutions and society at large, to think carefully about what constitutes Britishness and how it can be a term that embraces communities of colour in the UK... Hirsch’s book is more than a countrywide conversation-starter, though: it’s a deeply personal look at who she always knew she was, but didn’t feel ready to say yet. Observer

Skilfully blending memoir, history and social commentary around race, culture and identity. Hirsch writes with an incisive honesty that disproves the idea that privilege can be easily reduced to racial binaries... Hirsch shows us that the issues are complicated, that blackness is no more homogeneous than whiteness, and that we do need to talk about it if anything is to change. Times Literary Supplement

A dazzling book of stories ... Brit(ish) is, despite everything, a hopeful book ... It is impossible to do justice to the scope of this book ... The book teems with fascinating and uplifting as well as tragic stories ... This is writing that really shines. Irish Times

Brit(ish) is the work of a confident social guide ... The power of her writing matches that of other important black writers, among them [Paul] Gilroy and, going back two centuries, the American abolitionist John Brown Russwurm. Guardian

Searing ... Afua Hirsch's memoir adds a new chapter to the body of work on race in the UK. New Statesman

Awards

  • Jhalak Prize
  • IBW Book Award
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