Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman

19 reviews

batwinggoth's review against another edition

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Upon reaching the discussion regarding Hans Asperger in regards to autistic history,  the author breezed past how he supported the nazi regime. Stating Asperger wasn't a nazi, so basically don't worry about it. This was off-putting and the reason I stopped where I did. 

Previously to this point, I had begun to consider to dnf as the book was not sharing much at all from the perspective of actually autistic people and I was finding the information to be fairly surface level. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism

mbloudoff's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark hopeful informative sad slow-paced

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This book was incredibly detailed, and that is impressive. But it was too much. Every person got a bio and some imagery and it was just unnecessary. I found myself bored often and struggled to continue once I got halfway through. 

The detail of the terrible child abuse was also too much for me. It is 100% important to educate people about these horrors. I would have appreciated less haunting detail or perhaps a warning so I could choose a time to read it when I could have my feelings. (I read it before work and ended up crying the whole morning.) I’m glad I read this book but I wouldn’t recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Abandonment

Moderate: Chronic illness, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

shannonscotteditorauthor's review against another edition

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I've read a few books now on autism, trauma, and other psychological differences that upend neurotypical expectations. NONE of them have spent so much page space basically performing fellatio on supposed medical professionals essentially torturing young children into "acting sanely." Once it got the Lovaas wiring floors with electric shock to "discourage" autistic children from stimming, I was done. I understand that research standards were pretty low 60 or 70 years ago, but I don't want to and won't read about it for 500+ pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, Deportation

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide

panickedhonking's review against another edition

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You can't hide behind a journalistic neutrality when you're creating a historical narrative, particularly when the harms done to the people you're writing about are so profoundly horrible. Silberman makes some implications, and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions about wretched abuses which at times read as non-objecting or passively supportive. 
Praising Hans Asperger as an unbridled hero and treasure, and failing to comment on the harms of outpatient therapies in the 60s and 70s in parallel to the inpatient shows either an acute lack of understanding or deliberate ignorance, and after a few glaring omissions I don't feel like this is a great way to learn about my history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation

dwarrowdams's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

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An amazing read that gave a clear overview of the history of autism and looked towards the future. Incredibly well-researched and important.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma

Moderate: Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Medical content

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, Transphobia

tinyplanet's review against another edition

3.5

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

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Well-researched and well-written summary of the history of autism to ~2010. It was not a fun read. It unfortunately felt like a long account of how autistic people (and people with other developmental disabilities and mental illnesses) have been abused, stigmatized, imprisoned in institutions and mental asylums, denied education, infantilized, sterilized, tortured, and murdered, with some breaks to show autistic people in a symp thetic to positive light. Silberman did cover the history of the nascent autism self-advocacy movement in the United States and interviewed many autistic people and their families.

The book is white- and Western-centric, primarily focused on Austria, the UK, and the US, where most formal research on autism has been done. Silberman does include the voices of some girls and sometimes autistic mothers, plus Temple Grandin. There are some mentions of Japanese families, but very little said about minorities in the US or lower socioeconomic classes.

Silberman attempts to let the facts stand for themselves. In doing so, he does not take a strong stand against some of the figures who committed abuses. Asperger is presented as Nazi-lite. Electrocution is clearly bad, but the insidious frameworks that ins ired such a "treatment" are not fully confronted. Inference is required to identify all of the issues that Silberman presents.

This book may have the most content warnings of any book I have reviewed, although none of it is gratuitous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail

kenzielireads's review against another edition

4.25

hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Colonisation, Classism

changelingreader_adrian's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abandonment

Moderate: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Classism

Minor: Gore, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War

wy_woman's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical trauma

Moderate: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Medical content

Minor: Confinement, Genocide

annapox's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Transphobia, Antisemitism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury