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Apr 15, 2020
What if there had never been a Civil War? In this dystopian novel, four states still practice slavery. Black people in any state can be stopped and have their papers checked to make sure they aren't escaped slaves. Free blacks can also be kidnapped and sold into slavery. The author differentiates between 172 black skin tones referred to as Pigmentation Taxonomies to help identify blacks. Slaves are worked to exhaustion, forced to work even when they are sick, and all must sing a song about how happy they are to work for the corporation. Unlike most alternative history novels, one can't leave this book and feel relieved that it's fiction because racism is still all too prevalent in the U.S.