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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This book is amazing and everyone should read it. More to come closer to publication date...
Update 10/5/17: Full review available on my blog -
http://themeaningthatithas.blogspot.com/2017/09/we-were-8-years-in-power.html
This book is amazing and everyone should read it. More to come closer to publication date...
Update 10/5/17: Full review available on my blog -
http://themeaningthatithas.blogspot.com/2017/09/we-were-8-years-in-power.html
Beautifully written and powerful - a must-read for every American!
Coates' account of race relations in America in the era of Obama and the election of Donald Trump, a condemnation of our worst aspects and a celebration of America at its best, as well as a call to do better - every American should be reading this!
Coates' account of race relations in America in the era of Obama and the election of Donald Trump, a condemnation of our worst aspects and a celebration of America at its best, as well as a call to do better - every American should be reading this!
An outstanding collection of essays on civil rights, history and being black in America. Powerful.
challenging
informative
reflective
I can see why Cornel West rages out about him.
Coates grudgingly admits the truth. Rich Hawaii-born Barry Obama is overrated. The Clintons have built their entire career on racism, from 2008 when they begged racists to vote for Hillary against Obama, to the nineties when they adopted crime and welfare policies that were straight from Newt Gingrich's playbook, to their Arkansas days when they ghoulishly bragged about executing an African-American man who was so mentally disabled from a lobotomy that he didn't even know he was being executed when he was strapped into the chair. Bill Cosby, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the vast majority of the Congressional Black Caucus are self-serving crooks. The Democrats are no different than the Republicans.
BUT here's the kicker. Coates likes money and fame. His bread and butter is pleasing the establishment as a pundit. Their token black guy. So he reads the cue cards handed to him and gives the crowd the show they want. I think he's deeply embarrassed by it. He knows that when you take away the celebrity and the political correctness he's just another hack cashing in.
Coates grudgingly admits the truth. Rich Hawaii-born Barry Obama is overrated. The Clintons have built their entire career on racism, from 2008 when they begged racists to vote for Hillary against Obama, to the nineties when they adopted crime and welfare policies that were straight from Newt Gingrich's playbook, to their Arkansas days when they ghoulishly bragged about executing an African-American man who was so mentally disabled from a lobotomy that he didn't even know he was being executed when he was strapped into the chair. Bill Cosby, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the vast majority of the Congressional Black Caucus are self-serving crooks. The Democrats are no different than the Republicans.
BUT here's the kicker. Coates likes money and fame. His bread and butter is pleasing the establishment as a pundit. Their token black guy. So he reads the cue cards handed to him and gives the crowd the show they want. I think he's deeply embarrassed by it. He knows that when you take away the celebrity and the political correctness he's just another hack cashing in.
I read some of the essays in this collection when they were first published in The Atlantic. Others I had missed. All are moving and brilliant, but in the aftermath of Trump's America, there's a somberness to Ta-Nehisi Coates' words -- written at a time when he had no idea what the future held -- that make me want to cry.
An accurate account of the turn of events that led to a Trump win for the White House. I wish there were more solutions offered, but definitely laid the groundwork for someone to offer a plan to get out of this mess!
In "We Were Eight Years in Power," Ta-Nehisi Coates offers an examination of the Obama presidency, the role of race in American politics and a distressing coda related to the ascendency of Donald Trump. Some readers will find statistical and historical evidence to back up theories they may have already considered. Others may be stunned to see these facts marshaled in this way. Readers of The Atlantic will recognize large portions of the book, as each chapter is essentially a fresh introduction along with an article that previously appeared in the magazine.
Personally, I find Coates' synthesis impossible to refute. White people in America continue to benefit from what he describes as the "bloody heirloom," getting preferential treatment at every stage and level of existence, from the first day of kindergarten to the day they apply for a mortgage and beyond. Reading "The Case for Reparations," I am struck by the logic of his arguments. America is centuries overdue for a truth and reconciliation discussion and policy agenda.
"We Were Eight Years in Power" is one of the most important books of 2017.
[Note: I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Personally, I find Coates' synthesis impossible to refute. White people in America continue to benefit from what he describes as the "bloody heirloom," getting preferential treatment at every stage and level of existence, from the first day of kindergarten to the day they apply for a mortgage and beyond. Reading "The Case for Reparations," I am struck by the logic of his arguments. America is centuries overdue for a truth and reconciliation discussion and policy agenda.
"We Were Eight Years in Power" is one of the most important books of 2017.
[Note: I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.]
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
****1/2. It seems the great Dr. West has decided that the focus of Coates's powerful yet very finely calibrated voice is at odds with that of his own; this collection shows that they are, rather, mainly complementary, and equally imperative in the vital discourse demystifying and thoroughly examining the literally life-or-death struggle of American blackness in the face of foundational white supremacy.
Extra 1/2 for Coates's compelling, nakedly honest and rigorous recounting/demystification of his own writer's journey and development (in the craft, and in prominence to the point of often awkward preeminence), to which the infinitely less-developed writer in me thrilled.
Extra 1/2 for Coates's compelling, nakedly honest and rigorous recounting/demystification of his own writer's journey and development (in the craft, and in prominence to the point of often awkward preeminence), to which the infinitely less-developed writer in me thrilled.