On Bigotry

Twenty Lessons on How Bigotry Works and What to Do About It

By: Nicholas Ensley Mitchell

Narrated by: Nicholas Ensley Mitchell

We like to believe that bigotry is a product of ignorance and that if we educate people enough, they will become immune to bigotry. But what if bigotry isn't a lack of education, but rather a moral code that people live by? What if bigotry is a common code of hate to which no community is immune?

On Bigotry is a field guide for understanding how bigots think and teach others to think, how bigotry disguises itself, how bigotry teaches people to act politically, and, most importantly, what individuals and communities can do about it. This is an essential listen for anyone interested in challenging the spread of bigotry in society, regardless of who engages in it and why.

©2025 Nicholas Ensley Mitchell (P)2025 Recorded Books

A must read for understanding bigotry in the US

On Bigotry is an explicitly non-partisan examination of the topic of bigotry, and in today’s heavily polarized political climate, it provides an invaluable lens for evaluating how we engage with politics, media, and other people.

Dr. Mitchell does an excellent job of laying out what bigotry is and how to recognize it, but also perhaps more importantly, how to respond to it. It is not a book to win arguments or teach debate skills, but a breakdown of how bigotry works in our society and how bigots think.

He brings a perspective to these topics rooted in his personal experiences as a black man in Southern Louisiana, but I think this book has something for people from all walks of life. It is sure to have heads nodding in agreement in places regardless of where you fall on (or even if you have no interest in) the American political spectrum.

The book lays out a basic premise that I’m pretty sure all of us agree with- that bigotry isn’t something babies are born with, it’s something that is taught.

The particular genius of his approach as a professor of curriculum studies, is to then identify the "hidden curriculum" of bigotry, how it’s taught in society, and break it down into a syllabus of easy to access lessons.

Somewhere between a series of lectures and a conversation held around a kitchen table, his style is relaxed and comfortable. This doesn’t feel like reading a college textbook, more like pop non-fiction that just happens to have impressive citations if you want to learn more later. The author does an excellent job of defining terms and giving easily accessible examples so even readers with no background in the topic can enjoy the work.

On Bigotry does an excellent job of dispelling myths about bigotry and the various ways bigotry disguises itself. It is, unfortunately, a very relevant book for the United States right now and in the short time since it’s publication it has only become significant.

Must read book to learn about and resist bigotry

This book is very much a thorough and detailed textbook (albeit less dry than a textbook) for essentially a course about bigotry, how it affects people, and spreads.

The author pulls very much from his lived experiences with bigotry growing up in the South, but also backs that up with lots of research and citations from other foundational works that came before him to really detail and flesh out what each of these lessons is, where it comes from, why it is that way, and ways to resist that aspect of bigotry.

The narration, done by the author himself, is very well done and is very soothing to listen to, especially considering the very tough and sobering topics being read.

This book is an absolute must read (or in this case, listen) for anyone who wants to learn about how bigotry has existed and continues to exist in our society, how to recognize it in others and yourself, and some guidance on how to try to correct these behaviors in yourself and others.

Step 1 to being a little better of a person

This book was well written and expertly worded. The narration was easy to listen to but some points were hard to hear. This is one of the main reasons this book is so important. Since finishing it, I feel compelled to reference back to it multiple times a day because Mitchell really provides specific examples of bigotry, how easy it is to spot, but sometimes easier to miss. Having lived my entire life in the deep south, I am well versed in the rhetoric of bigotry.

The author explains this extremely relevant topic in a manner that enlightens without sounding condescending, stern without sounding hopeless, and informs the reader of complex topics without redundancy. This book is a call to be better when you know better. It is a must-read.