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Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil: My Life and Times in a Racist, Imperialist Society
by
Inga Muscio
It's just called history, asserts Inga Muscio in her newest book. In fact, the controversial author continues, the so-called history we learn in school is no more than a brand, developed by white men who, often unjustly, won the right to spin their stories as hard facts. With
Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil,
it's Muscio's turn and she's taking it in order to hip the mas
...more
Paperback
,
256 pages
Published
June 30th 2005
by Seal Press
(first published April 10th 2005)
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Community Reviews
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894)
This book really had me going for about three quarters of the way...I like muscio's style--crass, conversational and funny. She does a great job connecting theory with her personal experience in an engaging way, and there are some great things about the book because of that. However, there is gratingly typical ableism throughout the book, such as using the word "retarded" as a pejorative, using "people in wheelchairs" as the stock disabled people, and generally approaching disability with a trag
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this is by the same lady who wrote
cunt
, another book i read & found very questionable & of factual dubiousness. as much as i disliked
cunt
, though, it didn't even come close to howmuch i hated, detested, & loathed this book. HATED IT. worst piece of shit ever. supposedly it's about inga muscio's relationship with benefiting from white privilege in the imperalistic united states, but instead, it was 500 pages of her patting herself on the back for having spent five minutes thinking a
...more
This is one of those books that basically sums up a lot of what I think about everyday in regards to how this society treats people. This is a great book and it is an interesting read. It turned me on to some writers and activists I haven't heard of before. I also learned about Charles Drew, a black man who invented the blood plasma preservation process which revolutionized medicine. He was working for the Red Cross and quit when they made it a policy to not accept blood from non-whites due to f
...more
Inga is back and just as controversial as ever!
Inga's "Autobiography" provides a close examination of the history lessons that are shoved down our throats in a white male supremacist society. Not unlike Cunt: A Declaration of Independence , Inga's latest work is brutally honest and critical of the state of our society and how it shapes the rest of the world. Inga definitely has a penchant for calling bullshit on racist, sexist, and imperialist behaviour; and, as a fellow blue-eyed devil, I think ...more
Inga's "Autobiography" provides a close examination of the history lessons that are shoved down our throats in a white male supremacist society. Not unlike Cunt: A Declaration of Independence , Inga's latest work is brutally honest and critical of the state of our society and how it shapes the rest of the world. Inga definitely has a penchant for calling bullshit on racist, sexist, and imperialist behaviour; and, as a fellow blue-eyed devil, I think ...more
Inga Muscio does make a few good points about white privilege and history revisionism. However, it's outnumbered by the terrible writing and conspiracy theories. I've literally read better stuff about oppression on Tumblr. Also, I felt like she was fetishizing other cultures at times.
The information is great, but her tone constantly got on my nerves. Yes, I get it, you're a righteous white person.
I haven't finished this book yet, but I cannot wait to get my hands on it again! I borrowed it from friends while I was staying at their house and sadly had to leave it there when I left. She uses language that strips away all the bullshit and gets down to the reality of situations that most of us would prefer to remain confused about because they bring up the very nature of society as we know it. She recommends Eduardo Galeano a few times and I have since picked up a book of his called Upside D
...more
This is an important book. It took me through every imaginable emotion about the world in which we live. I was worried I would come away feeling beaten down and hopeless, but by the end of the book I felt the strength the author draws from to channel the rage that fuels this book.
There are certainly things I wish she had done differently. I'm not on board at all with her use of "retard(ed)" or her weak justification (in the glossary, where she claims there is no other term in English that accom ...more
There are certainly things I wish she had done differently. I'm not on board at all with her use of "retard(ed)" or her weak justification (in the glossary, where she claims there is no other term in English that accom ...more
Giving two dogs one bone is a great way to control a population of people who have been beaten down into believing that they are dogs.
p99
I do not understand how a country can base its identity on freedom when so many of its people are not now, and have never been, free.
p183
p99
I do not understand how a country can base its identity on freedom when so many of its people are not now, and have never been, free.
p183
Skip this book. If you are tempted to buy it, head to the bibliography and read those books. Like the author I am white, progressive, and queer. Unlike the author, I don't need to self-congratulate about how fucken awesome I am because I recognize how shitty the world is to everyone.
This book deviates every chance possible from the main thesis so the author can congratulate herself on how far she has come.
Please, please read the actual works of the people that this author has designated hersel ...more
This book deviates every chance possible from the main thesis so the author can congratulate herself on how far she has come.
Please, please read the actual works of the people that this author has designated hersel ...more
I've thought a lot about what to say about this book.
I discovered Inga Muscio because of Cunt, which was a hugely inspiring book that, while I'm not sure I could recommend it to everyone, I was really happy to have read. When I wanted to read up on white supremacy, I found Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil and I thought, since I was familiar with Muscio and liked her, that it would be a good place to start.
This book mostly suffers because she never decided who her audience is.
If her audience ...more
I discovered Inga Muscio because of Cunt, which was a hugely inspiring book that, while I'm not sure I could recommend it to everyone, I was really happy to have read. When I wanted to read up on white supremacy, I found Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil and I thought, since I was familiar with Muscio and liked her, that it would be a good place to start.
This book mostly suffers because she never decided who her audience is.
If her audience ...more
Inga Muscio is clearly a very intelligent and thoughtful woman. I enjoyed her previous book, Cunt, but this one.... this one was more like grueling work to get through. Took me several months to finish!
Her writing style frustrated me beyond belief in this one. It worked out okay for Cunt, since the main idea of the book was more apparent (Cunts! Womankind! Love yourself and yes, your cunt, and don't be oppressed!) but in Autobiography I banged my head against the book. Inga would start talking ...more
Her writing style frustrated me beyond belief in this one. It worked out okay for Cunt, since the main idea of the book was more apparent (Cunts! Womankind! Love yourself and yes, your cunt, and don't be oppressed!) but in Autobiography I banged my head against the book. Inga would start talking ...more
this book has me all fired up! IM does an awesome job of making you take all the things you think you know (and are okay with) and pointing out how sick they really are. why do we, as a country, celebrate people like Columbus? Why does the default of most comments we make imply whiteness unless we specifically state otherwise? Why do people willing sit through hours of tv a day which amounts to not much more than indoctrination in all the things those in power want us to believe? It's unpatrioti
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Although I could enjoy and appreciate this book, I feel that there are other authors/books that explain the idea of white privilege better. I would recommend that
The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege
by
Robert Jenson
or
White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son
by
Tim Wise
be read before diving into this very radical book by Musico. So, this is a great book to read if you have some knowledge on the subject, unless you are open to very extreme attitu
...more
It is quite intriguing to me, seeing all the complexities of life that I would not have seen were it not for my most recent read. While flying from Houston to Sea-Tac on the Fourth of July, I was able to finish a book by my personal bodhisattva (though I am quite convinced that she would be repulsed by that title), Inga Muscio. The book, entitled, Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil : My Life and Times in a Racist, Imperialist Society is an eye-opening, no holds barred book about the racism and w
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Spoiler alert!
Whites win.
Somewhere toward the beginning of this book she claims that if it weren't for Hitler, she wouldn't be alive. Her grandfather was a soldier who met her grandmother during the war, they had kids, one of those kids had Inga. This is literally in the book more or less as I've written it. Well, while I was reading this book inside Borders, somebody stole my bike. So no Inga, no book, no trip to Borders, no bike theft. See how RIDICULOUS that kind of logic looks?
The only other ...more
Whites win.
Somewhere toward the beginning of this book she claims that if it weren't for Hitler, she wouldn't be alive. Her grandfather was a soldier who met her grandmother during the war, they had kids, one of those kids had Inga. This is literally in the book more or less as I've written it. Well, while I was reading this book inside Borders, somebody stole my bike. So no Inga, no book, no trip to Borders, no bike theft. See how RIDICULOUS that kind of logic looks?
The only other ...more
Jun 15, 2015
sylas
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
many of my white friends.
Shelves:
memoir
In 2007, this book amazed me. It helped that it was given to me by a dear friend shortly before she died. In the spirit of keeping my former self (in all my baby-rad glory) alive, I'm not going to delete my review below. But know that I don't feel so great about this book these days and that I think Colin does a great job of summing up why.
"This book is great and, in my opinion, should be required reading for any dominant-culture enmeshed or newly "normative"-critical white person in this count ...more
"This book is great and, in my opinion, should be required reading for any dominant-culture enmeshed or newly "normative"-critical white person in this count ...more
muscio's work is a bit like a book-on-tape: her voice just jumps off the pages. it's really accessible and easy to follow while being honest in a loud and voracious way. i think inga is a good place to look for politics if you are scared off by genre-defined analyses or up-one's-own-arsedness. and though muscio deals with very painful subjects, it is somehow fun to read. the main focus is racism, but the critique intersects many aspects of gender, class, and environment. this is a volume of thou
...more
My awareness is 1009 times bigger than before i picked this book up. Inga pushes and pushes and pushes and admits she fucks up and pushes some more. I see my thoughts, actions, and "environment" differently now- reminding me why i read.
My sis and I brought this with us to South Africa last year and couldn't start this book while we were there "because of the intensity of that country". A year of some crazy soul searching inside AmeriKKka, i forced my self to see it through. like meditating, rea ...more
My sis and I brought this with us to South Africa last year and couldn't start this book while we were there "because of the intensity of that country". A year of some crazy soul searching inside AmeriKKka, i forced my self to see it through. like meditating, rea ...more
Thanks, Inga. Not for presenting things I didn't know before (because I'm a history teacher, so it's my job to know history and figure out how it relates to today, and because I teach on the West Side of Chicago and therefore also it's my job to have an understanding of institutional racism) -- but for presenting it in such an entertaining format. I had this book on my shelf for years...it's actually signed by the author, with another inscription by someone whom I am no longer dating...and when
...more
This was not an easy read. It took me almost two years, I think, between when I started and finished this book.
Inga does not sugar coat. She makes you look and whiteness and privilege and all the messed up things going on in our world. This book educated me, made me really think,broke my heart, made me want to read 100 other books, learn 100 more biographies, questions everything and appreciate with all my heart the tiniest things that I already love and those that I don't.
A great follow up to ...more
Inga does not sugar coat. She makes you look and whiteness and privilege and all the messed up things going on in our world. This book educated me, made me really think,broke my heart, made me want to read 100 other books, learn 100 more biographies, questions everything and appreciate with all my heart the tiniest things that I already love and those that I don't.
A great follow up to ...more
Inga made me feel even more awesome about myself in "Cunt" and makes me feel even more full of resentment for myself in "autobiography of a blue-eyed devil"
I am reading it, and when I am finished, I plan on going through it again to make note of every book and person she writes about within it, so that I may research them.
UPDATE
I was skipping ahead and read some parts that made me think Inga is TOTALLY OFF HER ROCKER.
In some of her documented interactions with white people she comes across as ...more
I am reading it, and when I am finished, I plan on going through it again to make note of every book and person she writes about within it, so that I may research them.
UPDATE
I was skipping ahead and read some parts that made me think Inga is TOTALLY OFF HER ROCKER.
In some of her documented interactions with white people she comes across as ...more
I couldnt finish this basically because I can't get past the irony of a white woman going on and on about white privilege (on topics I honestly already know about) in a book she subsequently profits from. I'd much rather go to an author who personally experiences the oppressions and marginalizations Inga talks about than give my money to her. Kind of a hypocrite when you think about it.
I also agree with other reviewers on her ableism and her slight fetishization of other cultures.
I also agree with other reviewers on her ableism and her slight fetishization of other cultures.
If you have any shred of social, ethical, or moral consciousness, then you MUST read this stunning treatise of a book. Discussions of racism, deforestation, consumerism, sexism, the lie that is "History", imperialism, holocausts through out time all over the globe, environmentalism, current affairs, how the media lies to you, and more. The second book by the author of "Cunt" is just as completely mind-blowing and righteous-anger-inducing as the first.
I don't think I really need to get too deeply into my review ... simply enough, Muscio pushes further and deeper into her own psyche and our society's reliance on racism and imperialism as control and devaluation than in her previous book, Cunt, which used feminism as its critical lens. Raw and rude as usual, Muscio never bows to fear. And I just love her.
Initially a little disengaged/wary of the tone, I have grown into this book and learned a lot. Muscio's representation of our society sits on top of a world I can see--a world validated by the infrastructure of our cultural spaces--like the young woman replaces the old woman in that oft-cited visual effect that plays with our perception of an image.
I love this book but I also have a big problem with the continuous ablist use of "retarded". I noticed this in Inga's other book, Rose.
Reading about the overall structure and interconnected nature of different instances of patriarchy always fascinates me and Inga's writing always ties it together in a way that I really enjoy.
Reading about the overall structure and interconnected nature of different instances of patriarchy always fascinates me and Inga's writing always ties it together in a way that I really enjoy.
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I am currently re-reading this important well-researched book that explains how we've reached such sad conditions in a country that claims to be Christian. We think slavery is a thing of the past but we endorse it everyday as consumers. It's a sincere call to open our eyes to racism and make conscious informed decisions.
This is a must-read for anyone who's ever been baffled by the way the citizens of the USA use racism in everyday life, without any consciousness of said fact.
It's a little sweary, and has a lot of history in it, plus some kick-ass recommendations for Howard Zinn's history of the Amercian people.
It's a little sweary, and has a lot of history in it, plus some kick-ass recommendations for Howard Zinn's history of the Amercian people.
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“As ever, the original inhabitants of Turtle Island are entirely overlooked. Mysteriously, the only time indigenous people are guaranteed a mainstream Amerikkan mention is on Thanksgiving.
Again, to contextualize, this would be be kinda like someone busting into your house and robbing you blind, then sending you postcards once a year to remind you how much they are enjoying all of your stuff, and getting annoyed with you if you don't respond with appreciation for their thoughtfulness.”
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Again, to contextualize, this would be be kinda like someone busting into your house and robbing you blind, then sending you postcards once a year to remind you how much they are enjoying all of your stuff, and getting annoyed with you if you don't respond with appreciation for their thoughtfulness.”
