bunburyist 's review for:

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates

5.0

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I both read this book slowly and also devoured it. I read it with a pen in hand and marked something on nearly every page that struck me as something I didn't know, some perspective I hadn't considered, or an eloquent summary of something that perhaps I had been thinking but didn't know just how to articulate. I appreciated the way the book was constructed - a collection of essays (I believe most if not all published in The Atlantic) from every year of the Obama administration with an introduction to each essay reflecting back on what was happening at the time. This book feels both incredibly relevant to our current political circumstances and also presents a necessary history of race and systemic oppression in our country. I confess I am one of those people who thought Trump wouldn't and couldn't win. I heard everything he said on the campaign trail and was thoroughly disgusted. He insulted everyone who was different than him. I couldn't understand why someone would vote for him, would look at him and think he was the better choice (either in the primaries or the general election.) I was optimistic and trustful that voters would see the hate speech and racist (sexist, et al.) rhetoric for what it was. I was only considering current events as I had experienced them, not in the context of the whole arc of our history. After reading this I feel like I can finally apply a logic as to how we got here and how Trump happened. I am embarrassed of my ignorance but I will continue to learn.