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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
The individual essays were generally pretty strong, but the book as a whole worked less well for me. I'm not sold on the unifying theme of the eight essays, and because they weren't originally written to be read together, there's a fair amount of repetition of certain anecdotes.
Ugh. Such a depressing end to a great presidency. To follow President Obama with this freak show run by incompetent yes-men all telling trumplethinskin what he wants to hear.
Full review to come.
Full review to come.
Sitting on my shelves since 2017 (the year it was published & 1 year after Barack Obama’s presidency ended), this book finally got my attention. I had a vague notion that reading it might be a mistake—not only for the heartbreak I would incur by immersing myself in thoughts about my favorite president, particularly as we face the upcoming election, but also because those musings might now seem irrelevant.
I should have known better. Ta-Nehisi Coates is a master; his nonfiction is unparalleled. Arranged in 8 sections, each introduced with 10 pages or so of Coates’s “Notes” from that year, the essays muse on varied topics pertinent to that year, his personal & writing life, the history & politics of then & now.
Entitled This is How We Lost to the White Man, Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?, Fear of a Black President, The Case for Reparations, etc., the chapters’ commentary is insightful, unsparing: of Obama, pervasive American racism & the resulting Black trauma, Bill Cosby, himself. Joy is there, too: with Obama, who he has befriended, interviewed & feels embodies “Black people’s everyday, extraordinary Americanness;” with the flourishing of Black authors, musicians, filmmakers, journalists during his presidency; with James Baldwin & Malcom X.
Much food for reflection, delivered with clear-eyed precision. A searing indictment of the white supremacy embodied in Donald Trump follows in the epilogue.
Side note: interestingly, the title comes from an 1895 congressman’s plea highlighting Black achievement during Reconstruction, as his state of SC moved toward restoring white supremacy via violence & Black suppression.
I should have known better. Ta-Nehisi Coates is a master; his nonfiction is unparalleled. Arranged in 8 sections, each introduced with 10 pages or so of Coates’s “Notes” from that year, the essays muse on varied topics pertinent to that year, his personal & writing life, the history & politics of then & now.
Entitled This is How We Lost to the White Man, Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?, Fear of a Black President, The Case for Reparations, etc., the chapters’ commentary is insightful, unsparing: of Obama, pervasive American racism & the resulting Black trauma, Bill Cosby, himself. Joy is there, too: with Obama, who he has befriended, interviewed & feels embodies “Black people’s everyday, extraordinary Americanness;” with the flourishing of Black authors, musicians, filmmakers, journalists during his presidency; with James Baldwin & Malcom X.
Much food for reflection, delivered with clear-eyed precision. A searing indictment of the white supremacy embodied in Donald Trump follows in the epilogue.
Side note: interestingly, the title comes from an 1895 congressman’s plea highlighting Black achievement during Reconstruction, as his state of SC moved toward restoring white supremacy via violence & Black suppression.
Well, Coates is Coates and he is relentlessly unforgiving in this one. If we don't discuss how justifed that approach is, then we're looking at a dynamite of a book despite it being verbose and somewhat redundant at times.
This book is a good collection of essays touching various aspects of race relations in America along with a historical background and current and political perspectives. It's supposed to be based around Obama's presidential tenure but I don't see clear cut connections. Coates just got a chance when Obama was in office but he could've written this book at any time with minor omissions.
To be honest, I felt like I didn't get what I was hoping for in this book mostly--changes/lack thereof in race relations around Obama's tenure. I also felt that relentless unforgiving criticism was just a bit too much at times. Perhaps I don't get a say in it but I can have an opinion. Such criticism tends to veer on the opposite side of bigotry where you tend to have stereotypical inclusion and generalization. Which is also not cool. I understand perfectly why that is not necessary but cannot accept it just because.
Anyway, this book took me a long time to finish thanks to Coates intricate prose and the actual substance itself of the book.
This book is a good collection of essays touching various aspects of race relations in America along with a historical background and current and political perspectives. It's supposed to be based around Obama's presidential tenure but I don't see clear cut connections. Coates just got a chance when Obama was in office but he could've written this book at any time with minor omissions.
To be honest, I felt like I didn't get what I was hoping for in this book mostly--changes/lack thereof in race relations around Obama's tenure. I also felt that relentless unforgiving criticism was just a bit too much at times. Perhaps I don't get a say in it but I can have an opinion. Such criticism tends to veer on the opposite side of bigotry where you tend to have stereotypical inclusion and generalization. Which is also not cool. I understand perfectly why that is not necessary but cannot accept it just because.
Anyway, this book took me a long time to finish thanks to Coates intricate prose and the actual substance itself of the book.
When I first heard about this book, I didn't realize it would be a collection of previous essays by Coates with additional commentary. When I learned this, I was at first disappointed that it wasn't new content. However, it was extremely enlightening to revisit these essays, especially with the astute additional information offered in their new introductions. Coates is brilliant as always.
Such an important book for our era. Helped open my eyes to things I’d never considered before. Coates’ writing is, as usual, masterfully executed and deeply emotional.
These articles are powerful on their own, but Coates's criticism of his own mindset at the time of writing each of them adds a layer of understanding that we don't normally get from a writer.
I too would gather my words and scream into the roaring waves, because to scream was to defy the story, and that defiance had meaning, no matter that the waves kept coming, would come, maybe, forever.
I too would gather my words and scream into the roaring waves, because to scream was to defy the story, and that defiance had meaning, no matter that the waves kept coming, would come, maybe, forever.
challenging
informative
reflective
This book is a collection of essays, one from every year of the Obama presidency, preceded by Coates's commentary. It ends with a devastating epilogue on Trump's presidency called "The First White President." In my opinion, the best part is Chapter 6, "The Case for Reparations," the type of essay that can fundamentally change the way you understand America. You can read this in the Atlantic right now: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/ All of the essays here were originally published in the Atlantic, actually. The whole book is fairly dense, but not overly academic. Because the bulk of the book was published individually beforehand, it's somewhat repetitive at times. I think this is a must-read for all Americans, but the format and denseness, at times, may not be for everyone, and lends itself to reading one chapter at a time rather than taking all the chapters together. I am looking forward to reading more of his books in 2020.