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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
A powerful collection of essays on race and racism in America, reflecting the author's evolving understanding of these issues over the eight years of the Obama presidency. Half of these entries are drawn, roughly one per year, from articles originally published in The Atlantic; the rest have been newly written for this volume in the dawn of the Trump administration. Throughout, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes movingly and convincingly on the historical forces of racial injustice that survive today, the ways in which the unique figure of Barack Obama has navigated them, and how they have ultimately led us to his successor in the Oval Office.
It's as meditative and elegiac as the title suggests, using a racial lens to examine both the triumphs and flaws of the Obama White House but especially to mourn its passing. Yet despite that focus, the language is less poetic than the author's earlier work Between the World and Me, which I personally appreciate. This is an accessible book for all of us who have had our eyes opened over the course of the past decade, and it deserves to be read widely.
It's as meditative and elegiac as the title suggests, using a racial lens to examine both the triumphs and flaws of the Obama White House but especially to mourn its passing. Yet despite that focus, the language is less poetic than the author's earlier work Between the World and Me, which I personally appreciate. This is an accessible book for all of us who have had our eyes opened over the course of the past decade, and it deserves to be read widely.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Coates's take on the Obama years and the the factors surrounding that period were insightful if not a little disheartening. Glad I read it
While the first two essays were a slow start, the following essays get progressively better. And damn, does it even get better than "The Case for Reparations" (minus that misguided section on Israel)? Or "My President was Black"? The structure of the book, with sequential essays (unedited), makes it possible to see Coates develop his voice over time.
The introduction to each essay were my favourite parts of the book. It’s a good book, it’s structured excellently, the epilogue is superb. Year 8’s essay made me tear up.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Compelling, Coates writing makes for great reading with challenging subjects.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I’m not the kind of person that normally goes out of their way to read essays on politics but Coates makes me wish I was. Sometimes I forget that I love to read, and texts like these remind me of how writing can be an art that is a privilege to be able to partake in.