James's Reviews > One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race

Not light reading; expect to spend some time with the book.

Honestly, I expected to see more people who were multi-generationally mixed in the book, because, well, that's actually what the one drop rules refers to, not to people whose ancestors were almost all from the African Diaspora. Ah, well.

The portraits were good, not exceptional. The strength of the book is primarily in the written portions, especially the context provided by the author. That said, I was surprised to see a women from my hometown in the book. That was really neat.

I wish the book weren't so old, though. Despite being published in 2021, the photos are all a decade old at least. The people in the pictures don't exist anymore. What the reader is seeing is a version of the past...one that doesn't know the hell of the years between President Obama and now. It's disconcerting, to say the least. Too bad this wasn't published sooner.

Overall, I would recommend it for people curious about where mixed race people fit into the Black experience and for people who have never heard of the one drop rule. Mixed race people may feel less pleased with the narrative, mileage will vary.