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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
I did not do this in the hope of convincing any of the disciples of raw [white supremacist] myth that they were wrong, at least not in any critical numbers. I did it to know that I was not crazy, that what I felt in my bones, what I saw in my people, was real. And I did it for others who know they have been robbed even if they cannot quite draw out the full story behind that feeling in all its horror. I could not shield them from banditry. But all around us there was a machinery meant to verify the myth and validate the illusion. Some black people believed but most of us would look out at the illusion, on a particular day, at a particular angle, in a particular light, and the strings and mirrors would be, if only for an instant, revealed. What I wanted most was to shine an unblinking light on the entire stage, to tell my people with all the authority I could muster that they were right, that they were not crazy, that it really was all a trick.
This book comprises eight of Ta-Nehisi Coates' essays for The Atlantic, one per each of the eight years of the Obama presidency. And yet, it's not all about the Obamas -- it's just using that time period as a useful lens through which to view our country & its racist baggage, against the context of its first Black president. (There's also an incredibly apt epilogue written after November 2016, titled "The First White President"; it's all connected, and this book presents compelling evidence for the fact that this disastrous election wasn't economically-driven, but rather the racist backlash in reaction to Barack Obama's existence, the almost inevitable way the country took a step forward wrt progress then another back.)
There are also fresh introductions written for each essay, contextualising when it was written, what was on Coates' mind, angles he wished he could have included, and often where he was at in his life & career at the time. I almost liked these introductions the most, because it was where Coates' real life bled over the most, and he let himself be heartstoppingly poetic in his prose.
This structure -- eight years, eight essays -- is really interesting, because it means the book gets better and better as it goes; in the very first essay, there's a stark difference in Coates' clarity and eloquence in the essay introduction vs. the essay itself. Which is actually good: it's fascinating seeing him get better and better with experience, occasionally circling back to the same thoughts and anecdotes years apart, but clarifying his point as he goes. And the essays themselves become longer, more detailed, meatier, with more to chew over and digest, becoming less thinkpiece and more exhaustive research. I also really appreciated the autobiographical details along the way, how he drew the connecting line between himself and the material, and how these eight years also cover Coates' rise to fame as a writer and how it changed his life circumstances.
It took me a while to get through this book, not in the sense that I didn't like it, but just that it requires more from you. It was oddly heavier than even the depressing WWII non-fiction I tend to read, and I think it's because We Were Eight Years in Power is more analytical and interpretative than merely factual, and this book grapples with issues that are more immediate, more viscerally present-day and still unfolding, a context that’s close to home. Like, you know America is racist, but you just don't know how bad it is until you see the whole picture, the details that tend to get swept under the rug.
The book is about race & racism in America, and illuminating the terrible odds stacked against black people. It's pessimistic because Coates himself is a cynic, but you can also see him grappling with that mentality throughout, balancing it against his glowing (but clear-eyed and not over-idealised) admiration for the Obamas. Even when he criticises the president for not going far enough, he's still sympathetic to the delicate balancing-act Obama had to navigate, and Coates still recognises & acknowledges how astounding that family and presidency was. The essays "The Case for Reparations" and "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration" are especially fantastic, and I can absolutely see how they jumpstarted his career.
This book is for anyone who ever finds themselves thinking 'racism is over'. Just because slavery is over doesn't mean its ghost is gone; it's just become less obvious, and more insidious & systemic.
4.5 stars, not sure whether to round up or down. I'll round up for now, although I have a suspicion I might wind up bumping it down in comparison to [b:Between the World and Me|25489625|Between the World and Me|Ta-Nehisi Coates|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1451435027s/25489625.jpg|44848425] when I finally read it (which I am excited to do!).
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A sidebar thought because I don't know where else to put it: literally the same day I finished this book, I read about how a South African woman was sentenced to prison for using racial slurs (and making various threats, etc). It's the first time they've jailed someone over it, but in the past, the same law has led to people being fined $8500 or $13k for it. It's mindboggling to imagine America ever, ever doing the same thing to curb such overt ugliness and hatespeech. But if South Africa -- another country with a tangled history of racism and white supremacy -- can do it, I sincerely hope that we could start taking similar steps in the right direction too.
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Sometimes it felt like more rhetoric than substance, but goodness what power and lyricism does Coates' writing hold. I'd read some of the better articles before (or rather, skimmed), but they were worth listening to again, and I especially liked the self-aware forewords he added on before each. A valuable American perspective for sure.
However: do NOT listen to the version on Audible. The narrator is wooden, completely butchering the rhythm of Coates' prose, and the weird accents he put on when quoting anyone were very irritating.
However: do NOT listen to the version on Audible. The narrator is wooden, completely butchering the rhythm of Coates' prose, and the weird accents he put on when quoting anyone were very irritating.
Really excellent food for thought! I would have loved it even more if it was read by the author but it was still great to listen to.
I had read some of Coates’s essays via The Atlantic and also his book Between the World and Me. I think this particular collection of essays put many of his ideas into perspective for me. It always feels rewarding as a reader to see how an author progresses and shapes his ideas over time, but I lament to say that this was not a rewarding read. Not for the quality of the ideas in the book or Coates’s style of writing, but because it chronicles the unraveling of a valuable and prolific time in our history. Something I thought happened overnight in November of 2016 is now something I can attempt to grasp.
what a powerful and well-written book. should be required reading.