I really
wanted to enjoy A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor
because, you know, history.
I mean… I wanted
to enjoy it…
But…
*inhales*
A
History of the World in 100 Objects?
More like A History of Colonialism in 100 Objects that Should Be Returned!
Darn that
overdeveloped justice sensitivity…
Is it
obvious that I did not enjoy it?
I’ve never
hidden the disgust I feel toward the British Museum and the hoard of stolen
items they keep on display so why I thought I could read this book without
getting pissed off is beyond me. But the injustice of it all wasn’t even the
thing that annoyed me the most.
Nope. It
was the arrogant, condescending tone of the author. The whole thing, while enlightening,
was just… patronizing. Here’s another old white man telling the rest of us what
we should think and how we should feel about it, which is just infuriating.
I might have
been able to stomach that if he’d ever, even once, addressed the oppression and
bloodshed that led to Britain’s possession (I won’t use the term “ownership”)
of these items. Even. Once.
How you
can discuss any of these objects while blindly ignoring the plight of the
peoples they were stolen from is beyond me. (Yeah, I know not every object
was stolen, and not all men, right?)
Overall, A
History of the World in 100 Objects was a massive letdown. It was
whitewashed in the worst possible way and looked at the history of the world
from a painfully entitled position.
Rating:
(2/5 stars)