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tsharris 's review for:
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
I read many of these essays when they were published, but they read completely differently when presented as a curated memoir of TNC's intellectual evolution and the development of his extraordinary powers as a writer. His biographical notes are often worth the price of admission. It also made me angry to think of the controversy this book has engendered when it is clear that critics have not read a word of the book beyond the title. No critic that I've seen has grappled with TNC's arguments or his impressive marshaling of empirical data. (Indeed, for all the credit he's received as a wordsmith, I think his reputation as a researcher and empiricist is sadly unappreciated.) Anyway, worth reading and re-reading.