“Do The Work” by Megan Pillow, edited by the renowned Roxane Gay, is a concise and accessible introduction to the complex topic of power. It explores how power is wielded, its impact on marginalized communities, and how individuals can work towards dismantling oppressive systems.
The book is particularly effective at providing a foundation for understanding concepts such as intersectionality, privilege, and the ways in which power dynamics can affect various groups, including people of colour, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities. While it may not be a groundbreaking text for those already deeply immersed in social justice, it serves as a valuable resource for those seeking a starting point.
One of the book's strengths lies in its ability to stimulate thoughtful reflection. The included questions and prompts encourage readers to examine their own experiences and biases, fostering a deeper understanding of the issues at hand. Additionally, the book's clear and concise writing style makes it easy to follow, even for those who may be new to the subject matter.
“Do The Work” is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in learning more about power, oppression, and social justice. While it may not offer a revolutionary perspective, it provides a solid foundation for further exploration and action.

This book is a guide to understanding power we hold and leveraging these insights into creating change in the world. The chapters cover topics of defining power, who gets to have power, what affects a person's power, what can we do about power and how can we empower others. It is structured more like a workbook/journal with reflection questions that are very insightful. I found the questions to be thought-provoking and very insightful when I filled out the grid to see how much power and privilege I have -- I did not check all of the boxes on the grid, but believe me, there were plenty enough checked! This is a good guide for all of those who want to unlearn and learn and are activists or changemakers. Or even a good foundational guide for those who want to get started in driving change in their communities.

Thank you to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group –Leaping Hare for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is a really good book that encourages us all to check our own privilege and think about how power is used for and against others. I appreciated that the book also considered intersectionality and disability which I hadn’t expected going into this book as they aren’t too often covered in mainstream books on power, instead favouring race and gender. I liked the black and white illustrations throughout which gave a contemporary feel as this is still such a contemporary issue, regardless of some people’s beliefs. I also really appreciated the interrogate and reflect sections as it encourages us to apply our learning straight away and things like the check your privilege table will really help put things into perspective for a lot of people.

I enjoyed the workbook format and the way the authors helped us get a better understanding of the nuances of activism.

This wasn't what I expected ... it was better. I loved the workbook style of this book and it was the first I've ever seen in this genre. The book gave me a lot to think about when it comes to power and how to use what power I do have for good. What a great reference and workbook. *Advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

A simple primer for how to begin working towards equality and activism. I think this is a really great resource for someone who is maybe doing learning and trying to grow in their activism, but if you are maybe more educated in activism/ power imbalances then this may not be for you. I was looking for a nuanced in depth look at intersectionality- but this just covers the basics. It does an excellent job, just wasn't the right book for what I wanted.

Thank you, NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group –Leaping Hare | Leaping Hare Press for this advanced reader's copy. This was a fantastic little workbook that speaks about power, inequalities, and who holds power. The book is broken up into sections with questions at the end of each section where you can answer and reflect on the power in your life- the power you hold and others around you and how it affects your life. Some things I was aware of, but it definitely opened my eyes to other ways I have privilege.

I love how this book is so coloful and easy to read for anyone who are still unfamiliar with what activist is, what they are doing.

This is very good, workbook with great explanations of power and good prompts at each section for us to consider our own options and leverage points

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this. 4/5 stars.

This is a really good introductory book for elements of power, oppression, and intersectionality. It had all the necessary information, was beautiful, and included elements of it being a reflective workbook. It definitely is more meant for people starting "the work" but I still found it a nice refresher of information that is the basis for any social justice work.

A short primer and workbook covering shifts in power and the impact on modern society. The format was difficult to maneuver and there were more illustrations and writing prompts than info.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for an ARC of this book.

I always love anything with Roxane Gay's name attached. Do the Work was a great read and a modern guide to being more involved.

Power is something that surrounds us in everyday life, whether we are conscious of it or not. This book is a really great foundation for beginning to explore power throughout the ages to the current day. I particularly liked the space and questions for reflexivity as this created opportunities to really engage with what we're reading and explore our own perspectives on power.

Books are rarely read in a vacuum. My reading of Do The Work was greatly impacted by Starling House by Alix E. Harrow - a book about small town secrets and generational trauma. Do The Work informed the way I processed the power dynamics in Starling House, and Starling House was the case study fresh in my mind as I read Do The Work. Although not it's primary purpose, the workbook works surprisingly well as a book club discussion guide. Thank you to the authors, Quarto, and NetGalley for the eARC.

Do The Work is an extremely compact exploration of power: what it is, how it impacts our lives, and what we can do about it. It provides the reader plenty of inspiration for further study with an excellent bibliography. And it asks thoughtful questions. This slim volume would work great in both small group and large conference settings. While it can be read and answered privately, I believe this work is best done in community. I hope every reader is left better informed and challenged to action.

Do the Work is a beautifully presented exploration into the dynamics of power within modern society and how it can oppress or help depending on how its wielded. Make no mistake, this is heavy and talks about violence, murder and prejudice but still does so in such a welcoming, accessible voice that was easy to follow and clear to understand.

This is a book of intersectional protest - covering race, disability, sexuality, class, gender and prompting the reader to *do the work* and think about it all while providing research, context and history.

This book is a really concise primer for anyone who is interested in social justice and wants to dip their toes in. While I would love for it to be the kind of book that would change who my boomer relatives are as people, this is not that. I think there are certain things about it that do bode well for convincing people or making people see things in a different light, such as grounding everything in research and scholarly discourse, but generally speaking, I would say this book is for people who at least know that things in our society are messed up and very unfair for many different groups of people. It provides really nice explanations and spaces for reflection on the topics of what power is and where people and communities derive power from, intersectionality, privilege, and different communities that are impacted by power discrepancies, such as the disabled community, people who are women, trans, or non-binary, and people of color. I think it would be a great book for a young person in high school or college to get them started on their journey to start making positive changes in our world!

This book is evidence of the ways in which power can be evaluated and discussed at an entry-level perspective. As my own understanding of power and its theories have been with me through my undergraduate and post-graduate studies, there wasn’t a great wealth of information that I was unaware of; however, as a starting point Do The Work I see as occupying a required position within educational institutions, workplaces, and judicial spaces. The interrogative style and reflective spaces in this book would greatly add to individual discourses exploring power particularly racial inequality. As the focus is primarily on race with sections discussing queerness and gender, I think this could have benefitted from being substantially longer - perhaps leaning into the social studies more heavily and breaking up the book by marginalised positions more heavily and tackling the worldwide perspectives (as a British person certain aspects of privilege were not relevant in the self-reflection activities) and open up the ways power also impacts those with disabilities and tackle gender and members of the LGBTQ+ in greater depth.

For anyone in the advocacy space, the question of power, challenging power, using power, understanding power is a daily experience and I loved how this book is formatted both for personal and group reflection. It's an important resource and one that I hope most readers who get their hands on, could learn a thing or two.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

This book was really well constructed, and I particularly enjoyed how is was structured for both self-exploration and group discussion. I hadn’t realized that I primarily viewed power as a negative concept, and this was such a helpful tool to reframe that belief and learn tools to use my power to help uplift others.

This book is a good introduction to a better understanding of power - what it means, who holds it, who is prevented from having it, and how you can empower others. It begins with defining power and then contextualizes it with real-world events, both from American history and more recent examples. There are certain concepts presented that aren't easy to understand right away, especially if you are unfamiliar with the specific style of academic writing, which takes some extra effort and reading of the referenced text in its entirety to completely grasp.

The book is accompanied by questions at the end of each section that were helpful in being introspective and thinking through the information presented and what I thought about it. The text by itself would have provided plenty to think about, but it's with encouraging reflection with specific questions that this guide really works and why I would recommend it to anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of power in the modern world and in communities.