Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo

23 reviews

rachrreads's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.5

While I agree with many of the arguments in this book on white male supremacy in America, I found the flow of the book to be hard to follow. This book really just felt like a bunch of essays thrown together with the main points of the argument at the beginning and end.

I learned quite a bit through all these stories/essays though, so that really helped the rating.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Colonisation, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, and Xenophobia

sarahlovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

I learned a lot from this book. The author is excellent at connecting past to present in various aspects of US culture. I think I would've liked it more as a printed book than an audiobook though.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide

allieguthrie93's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Suicide

evaniem's review against another edition

informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

I absolutely loved this book, it was difficult at times because the author does cover some pretty heavy topics, but it was so informative and really shined a light on many ways that racism is ingrained in every aspect of American history, and is continuously upheld today. The author also shares her own personal experiences with racism and xenophobia interspersed within the many facts and historical narratives that she tells throughout the book, keeping the book engaging, and allowing the reader to feel more connected to the topics and issues being discussed. She is an incredible writer and I am so grateful that she has chosen to do the difficult work of educating us on these issues when they are things that she struggles with every day

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Slavery, and Stalking

Minor: Suicide

emfass's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Ijeoma Oluo is simply one of the best writers writing today. In both this and So You Want to Talk About Race, she takes very tough and complex issues and makes them accessible. She is thorough and thoughtful and I honestly could have read another 100 pages or more of this book. It was also incredibly impactful to listen to the audiobook and hear Oluo's words in her own voice.

The introduction and conclusion chapters are vibrant and necessary overviews of the violence and harm caused by white male supremacy in the U.S. The chapters in between cover related topics by way of specific stories throughout American history. I deeply appreciated the unpacking of these important moments, and in particular the historic events I've lived through. 

Especially eye-opening to me were:
-the stories of Buffalo Bill and the Bundy brothers (Chapter 1)
-an exploration of Bernie bros (Chapter 2, possibly my favorite section of the book, as it helped put to words so many things I've sensed but didn't know how to say)
-the history of access (or lack thereof) to higher education in the U.S. (Chapter 3)
-the horrific tactics that white people used to try to keep Black people from leaving in the post-Reconstruction South (Chapter 4)
-the "problem" of women in the workforce after World War II (Chapter 5)
-the Squad's political career as women of color in Congress (Chapter 6)
-the racist history of football in the U.S. and the tidal wave of backlash that follows when players (including Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett) try to use their voice for change (Chapter 7)

Throughout the book, Oluo also shares many instances of the cruel, unjust, horrifying abuse she has endured as a Black woman writing very visibly about racial, feminist, and social justice issues. She does it not for pity, but I think as firsthand examples of the lengths white men will go to when they feel threatened.

I highly recommend this to everybody.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide, Slavery, Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Genocide

Moderate: Antisemitism, Bullying, Sexual assault, Islamophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Excrement

hannahollihan's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Sexism, Rape, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Police brutality, Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, and Gun violence

shelbo's review against another edition

challenging dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book is incredible and everyone should read it. A thoroughly researched history of white male supremacy in the USA, presented in a digestible manner. A lot of the content is understandably dark and upsetting, but Oluo managed to make me laugh through my righteous anger multiple times.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Sexism

Minor: Xenophobia, Suicide, Police brutality, Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, and Gun violence

simonereadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

magicalrealem's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

 

Ijeoma Oluo is brilliant and so is Mediocre. I finished this book in mid-February and have tried writing a review, but I don’t think I can do the book justice. It’s a critically important work; what Oluo analyzes and discusses is vital. I wanted to underline every sentence.  This book examines how everything “works according to design.” America and its systems were designed by elite white men through violence, exploitation, and oppression to benefit them and only them. White elites’ greatest con is making middle-to-lower class white men think they have an opportunity at wealth and power, and when they don't, they turn to women and people of color, especially black women, and blame those groups for their situations and lack of opportunity. White supremacy is dangerous not only to women and people of color but also to white men and all progress. Oluo discusses: the violence of Westward expansion and the foundations it laid, the toxicity of Bernie Bros and male feminists, housing covenants, glass cliffs, the great migration and anti-Black violence, higher education, the power dynamics in college and pro football, and the list goes on. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Antisemitism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

leekaufman's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Violence