Review of In It Together

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Faith Nwachuku
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Latest Review: In It Together by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes

Review of In It Together

Post by Faith Nwachuku »

[Following is a volunteer review of "In It Together" by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes.]
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5 out of 5 stars
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What world would it be if not for introspection? Self-reflection? Ponderance? In the book In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All, Eckhart Aurelius Hughes gives readers a level of perspective that one hasn't brought in a very long time, especially during these times. He spends the entire book talking about the complexities of human behavior. How we treat ourselves, and how we treat each other stems from it. The setup in society and the complexities of that (power, money, dominance, etc) have created a world where we are always against each other in various ways from love up to politics. Why do we do one thing and question another? This book opens one's eyes to how the world's human interaction works.

In terms of positive aspects, this specific book, In It Together, has many of them. The first one is the use of history. Hughes opens up the story by talking about a writer by the name of Voltarine de Cleyre. Hughes discusses how de Cleyre made a lot of people mad and was met with anger and contempt because he dared to challenge the back then conditions of things like marital rape, among others because, in reality, human beings should NOT be dominant over other human beings because we are "fundamentally equals." It would be inhumane, insane, and sociopathic to subject another human to unjust cruelty that doesn't need to exist in the first place. He also uses Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and analyzes him the same way as de Cleyre. Both were people who were prosecuted and made to look like mad men because they challenged the then Status Quo. It showed the main issue that this world is filled with many issues, many fixable issues but we do not want to fix them nor see anyone confront those issues. Why? Hughes makes this point in the next chapter which also is the second positive aspect that I found in this book. One thing that Hughes captures very well is the concept of making sure the reader practices self-reflection. In the next chapter, he talks about why no one wants to help those that are insanely suffering. He explains that the reason why that is because we cannot help ourselves. We engage in vices and other harmful behaviors that keep us from living our best lives, making smart decisions, AND helping those who aren't in the best of situations. In this world, there are people who cannot grasp the deep complexities of life especially one they do not agree with. Life is unexpected. We as people cannot explain life. We cannot explain why we live our lives the way we do. One thing that Hughes touched on so efficiently was that we as people engage in self-harming behaviors. We as people are leading ourselves to suicide and we don't even notice it. Partaking in certain vices like overeating, drinking and driving, smoking, etc harms us just as much as cutting wrists, doing hard drugs, or starving ourselves. We tend to group the former with having a great time compared to the stigmatized latter where as soon as we hear it, we don't think twice about it.

In terms of negative aspects, the one thing I will add is that Hughes does have a little bit of a fixation on trying to make this book seem for everyone and telling those who don't agree with what's written that they don't have to accept what's written. A line with something along the lines of "Granted, there are some literal humans.....but they would have already put this book down by this point..." I personally do not feel that it's necessary because we already know that people aren't going to agree because it's human behavior which is quite ironic given the context of the book. When you start your book discussing how very promising figures have been prosecuted throughout the years due to having different viewpoints, especially viewpoints that are live and let live or aren't bigoted, it's an ultimate definite that there will be detractors, people who despise the book, and so on.

I would give this book a solid 5/5. This book brought out a level of understanding of life and human behavior in society that I never heard of before. Between Hughes' willingness and yes, bravery calling all of us out on our hypocritical behaviors while maintaining a peaceful aura throughout. This book was human. This book was a form of therapy and wake-up call that I feel EVERYONE needs. A solid and fantastic read.

Lastly, this is a book for everyone. More specifically everyone who has come to a point in live where they are constantly in ponderance. Why are things this way? How did we get here? This book can answer the questions.

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In It Together
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