A review by hollyd19
Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Ijeoma Olou's latest work explores the way that our cultural elevation of white male mediocrity has informed and shaped the way our world works. She covers the history of various institutions from Wild West stories to the NFL and how they were built around a defense of white male supremacy. 

Olou writes with sharpness and clarity. Her research is thorough and sound, presenting an insidious history of white male control that benefits virtually no one in the long run. I was struck in particular by the way so much of it felt ordinary, like describing a green lawn or blue sky, so steeped are we as a culture in the world shaped by and for white men. While parts of the book covered history I already knew, other parts took me surprise: did you know that American women in WWII were wooed to the workforce with things like healthy work environments and on-site daycare only to have those things taken away when the soldiers returned and the women didn't want to give up their jobs? 

Ultimately, what I most appreciated about Mediocre was Olou's commitment to humanity. As she says in the conclusion, she doesn't want anyone to be trapped in the current paradigm, *including* the white men that have been deluded into believing the status quo is what's best. Dismantling toxic masculinity and white supremacy opens up a world of possibilities for ALL people. Our freedom is truly bound up with each other's freedom.