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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
A collection of essays that in the hands of a less talented writer would be a gimmicky cash grab, We Were Eight Years In Power synthesizes what makes Ta-Nehisi Coates such an important writer in the 21st century. By applying a Reconstruction lens as pretext to the collection and notes on each essay representing a year Barack Obama was in office, the reader is given the opportunity to examine old information with new perspective.
Of this collection I had read perhaps three individually as published in The Atlantic. And while they're discretely engaging, eye-opening, and wildly informative, reading them all in a centralized location highlights that Coates does virtually zero analysis of the experience of black women outside of anecdotes about his partner and the occasional quip about a particular wrongdoing being a worse experience for WOC. The majority of his approach is implied as the black male experience. Perhaps he prefers to stay in his lane but the person considered to have taken up Baldwin's intellectual mantle should be able to attempt the approach in more than passing.
But if you're looking for craft and content, or form that is inextricable from function, and prose that soars to the sky more often than not, read anything you can get your hands on authored by this man. If you only have the time for a few here the highlights (for this white guy) are The Case For Reparations and The Black Family In The Age Of Incarceration.
Of this collection I had read perhaps three individually as published in The Atlantic. And while they're discretely engaging, eye-opening, and wildly informative, reading them all in a centralized location highlights that Coates does virtually zero analysis of the experience of black women outside of anecdotes about his partner and the occasional quip about a particular wrongdoing being a worse experience for WOC. The majority of his approach is implied as the black male experience. Perhaps he prefers to stay in his lane but the person considered to have taken up Baldwin's intellectual mantle should be able to attempt the approach in more than passing.
But if you're looking for craft and content, or form that is inextricable from function, and prose that soars to the sky more often than not, read anything you can get your hands on authored by this man. If you only have the time for a few here the highlights (for this white guy) are The Case For Reparations and The Black Family In The Age Of Incarceration.
This was a doozy to finish because sophisticated nonfiction about the issues of our times demands an attention and an intellectual engagement that I find difficult to find the reserves for. I appreciate Coates' willingness to look back at his writing with critique and fresh eyes; this is, like much of Coates' stuff, a work about writing itself. It was powerful to read "The Case for Reparations" with the context he lays out in the introductory essay and it was humbling to again read "My President Was Black" after some time and after having seen Coates live in Chicago.
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
An essential read. Weaving new perspectives with some of his most prominent essays, Coates reminds us truly how special it was for Obama to grace the wings of the White House, while illuminating the devastating effects of the systemic racism ingrained in America’s very soul.
I wish this book was required reading in every high school in the U.S.
A difficult read; it took me literally months to finish because there is just so much to process. Essays/articles about the Obama presidency; the concluding one written after the Trump victory. His conclusion about the why of that victory is overwhelmingly persuasive. He has strong and harsh words for liberal/progressive politicians and pundits.
Thought-provoking essays with bits of memoir about the pre- and post-Obama years and race in America. It was irritatingly repetitive at times but otherwise a valuable read that challenged my understanding of Obama’s impact (positive and negative).
A thorough dissection of where we find ourselves today - and what happened during and of course, after the Obama years.
The take home conclusion that I took away from Coates' words?
Despite electing a black president by it's populace - America the system, was not only not ready, but actively rejected it's first black president. Coates' reveals, that both by it's past and present - Obama was set up to fail. He was either too black (the Henry Gates example) or not American (birtherism, secret Muslim etc). It was a lose-lose situation - surely a great tragedy for this country, founded on the backs of slaves and since those ugly times, a system that worked against African Americans, who when they could finally see themselves in their leader, was not allowed to fulfill his potential.
Politics aside (i didn't vote for Obama the second time) - it almost feels surreal that I lived through these 8 years and even moreso, now, living under Trump, the endorsement of (even if he does't realize it) of white supremacists and it's agenda. As we know and Coates acknowledges - this had been boiling under the surface the minute Obama took office (i myself recall hearing about white supremacist groups building up in the Northeast of the country) - not to mention the pervasive feeling my home state of Oregon, which was a white-only state upon admittance into the Union.
I had only read the closing essay "My President Was Black" among the previously published pieces that were included in this volume - the one addressing reparations was especially eye-opening and is even more significant now that many of the Democratic candidates have this in their policies that reparations should be a serious consideration in some form.
This is a dense read, but a must in the times we live in. It sadly makes sense in the times we find ourselves in at the present time and the uncertain future we face. I have no doubt I will refer to this book again in the near future regardless of how the coming two years and the next 4 years after the 2020 election.
The take home conclusion that I took away from Coates' words?
Despite electing a black president by it's populace - America the system, was not only not ready, but actively rejected it's first black president. Coates' reveals, that both by it's past and present - Obama was set up to fail. He was either too black (the Henry Gates example) or not American (birtherism, secret Muslim etc). It was a lose-lose situation - surely a great tragedy for this country, founded on the backs of slaves and since those ugly times, a system that worked against African Americans, who when they could finally see themselves in their leader, was not allowed to fulfill his potential.
Politics aside (i didn't vote for Obama the second time) - it almost feels surreal that I lived through these 8 years and even moreso, now, living under Trump, the endorsement of (even if he does't realize it) of white supremacists and it's agenda. As we know and Coates acknowledges - this had been boiling under the surface the minute Obama took office (i myself recall hearing about white supremacist groups building up in the Northeast of the country) - not to mention the pervasive feeling my home state of Oregon, which was a white-only state upon admittance into the Union.
I had only read the closing essay "My President Was Black" among the previously published pieces that were included in this volume - the one addressing reparations was especially eye-opening and is even more significant now that many of the Democratic candidates have this in their policies that reparations should be a serious consideration in some form.
This is a dense read, but a must in the times we live in. It sadly makes sense in the times we find ourselves in at the present time and the uncertain future we face. I have no doubt I will refer to this book again in the near future regardless of how the coming two years and the next 4 years after the 2020 election.