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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
This book was hard for me to personally get through. In part because of the topic and in part because each essay is very dense - though this is not a bad thing. But, it did mean I needed to stop somewhat frequently to give my brain time to digest what I had read. Though, since there were also points and specifics within the book that I had not heard about before there are undoubtedly parts of the book that I did not fully absorb with a single reading.
I think the format of the book really helped me to read through to the end because there were clear places I could pause to think. I also liked that he added notes before each essay where he in part reflected on what he had written in the past. Seeing this self reflection and acknowledgement of things that, after time has passed, he sees could be improved, shows a writer who will surely continue to improve.
I definitely want to read more of his work, especially things published after this book, but probably things published before as well.
I think the format of the book really helped me to read through to the end because there were clear places I could pause to think. I also liked that he added notes before each essay where he in part reflected on what he had written in the past. Seeing this self reflection and acknowledgement of things that, after time has passed, he sees could be improved, shows a writer who will surely continue to improve.
I definitely want to read more of his work, especially things published after this book, but probably things published before as well.
It took me a long time to get this this audio book because I sometimes listened to parts more than once. It’s dark and eye opening. Now, there is so much to think about.
Never was the subtitle, “An American Tragedy,” better used than in Coates’ collection of essays. Utterly intriguing yet simultaneously depressing, one might never consider the prospect of the “first white president” not arriving until 2016 before navigating through this reflective piece. Coates took me on a journey of painful truth and promising progress before reminding us that today’s reality is but a cautionary tale of possible descent into our unresolved (and in many ways unforgivable) past. Pay attention people!
Very good, a little repetitive because these essays were written so many months apart. I appreciated the intro essays setting the scene and explaining each essay. “The Case for Reparations” was excellent.
Ta-Nehisi Coates is an author I have heard about, but never gotten around to reading previously. I found this collection of essays on Libby when browsing their library. I am so glad I picked it up and will seek out his other work.
Essentially a collection of eight essays written during the Obama administration printed in the Atlantic by Coates; topics in the collection include Michelle Obama’s upbringing, Barack’s upbringing, the case for reparations in the US, and housing discrimination. These chapters are prefaced by personal accounts giving context to where Coates was when he wrote them and his reflections on the essays. This edition also included an epilogue about the current President and the factors leading to the election.
I found this collection illuminating in their arguments and critical of their subjects, while presenting the wide view significance. I found the chapter on reparations particularly persuasive, and I will seek out further literature on the subject. It is bittersweet reading this collection in the lead up to another election and having lost some of the naïveté I had in 2016. Looking back at the Obama administration through the lens of a Black writer also provides an important viewpoint, as most of my prior observations have come through mainstream news media which lack this perspective.
Essentially a collection of eight essays written during the Obama administration printed in the Atlantic by Coates; topics in the collection include Michelle Obama’s upbringing, Barack’s upbringing, the case for reparations in the US, and housing discrimination. These chapters are prefaced by personal accounts giving context to where Coates was when he wrote them and his reflections on the essays. This edition also included an epilogue about the current President and the factors leading to the election.
I found this collection illuminating in their arguments and critical of their subjects, while presenting the wide view significance. I found the chapter on reparations particularly persuasive, and I will seek out further literature on the subject. It is bittersweet reading this collection in the lead up to another election and having lost some of the naïveté I had in 2016. Looking back at the Obama administration through the lens of a Black writer also provides an important viewpoint, as most of my prior observations have come through mainstream news media which lack this perspective.
Short Review: This is a re-packaged version of 8 years of Atlantic Essays, most of them cover stories. I had read most of them previously to reading them here. If you have previously read many of these you may not want to pick up the books. But I am glad that I did because I was interested in Coates' introductions to each of the essays as much as the essays themselves. The introductions were occasionally personal, sometimes historical, but usually also evaluative of the essays. Coates is self-reflective and can see where he has grown and changed. That self reflectiveness is helpful in an author.
The main theme of the book is the ongoing power of white supremacy in the US. The last essay on Donald Trump's rise is probably the most reflective of that point. But essentially all of the essays are about that. Starting with Bill Cosby's lectures toward the black community and the profile of Michelle Obama to the more famous reparations article and mass incarceration articles these are all articles written by a black man in the United States, a place where personal and systemic racism still is very present.
Coates' is conscious of his relationship to James Baldwin. (And there is a discussion of his decision to write Between the World and Me as modern edition of The Fire Next Time.) But I think of Baldwin's quote in his Notes of a Native Son about how he cannot help but think about his being a Black man because it impacts his every day life.
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/we-were-eight-years-in-power/
The main theme of the book is the ongoing power of white supremacy in the US. The last essay on Donald Trump's rise is probably the most reflective of that point. But essentially all of the essays are about that. Starting with Bill Cosby's lectures toward the black community and the profile of Michelle Obama to the more famous reparations article and mass incarceration articles these are all articles written by a black man in the United States, a place where personal and systemic racism still is very present.
Coates' is conscious of his relationship to James Baldwin. (And there is a discussion of his decision to write Between the World and Me as modern edition of The Fire Next Time.) But I think of Baldwin's quote in his Notes of a Native Son about how he cannot help but think about his being a Black man because it impacts his every day life.
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/we-were-eight-years-in-power/
“Every Trump voter is certainly not a white supremacist, just as every white person in the Jim Crow South was not a white supremacist. But every Trump voter felt it was acceptable to hand the fate of the country over to one.”
informative
reflective
slow-paced