We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

· Sold by One World
4.4
28 reviews
Ebook
416
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

In this “urgently relevant”* collection featuring the landmark essay “The Case for Reparations,” the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me “reflects on race, Barack Obama’s presidency and its jarring aftermath”*—including the election of Donald Trump.

New York Times Bestseller • Finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize


Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York TimesUSA TodayTimeLos Angeles TimesSan Francisco ChronicleEssenceO: The Oprah MagazineThe WeekKirkus Reviews

*Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“We were eight years in power” was the lament of Reconstruction-era black politicians as the American experiment in multiracial democracy ended with the return of white supremacist rule in the South. In this sweeping collection of new and selected essays, Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the tragic echoes of that history in our own time: the unprecedented election of a black president followed by a vicious backlash that fueled the election of the man Coates argues is America’s “first white president.”

But the story of these present-day eight years is not just about presidential politics. This book also examines the new voices, ideas, and movements for justice that emerged over this period—and the effects of the persistent, haunting shadow of our nation’s old and unreconciled history. Coates powerfully examines the events of the Obama era from his intimate and revealing perspective—the point of view of a young writer who begins the journey in an unemployment office in Harlem and ends it in the Oval Office, interviewing a president.

We Were Eight Years in Power features Coates’s iconic essays first published in The Atlantic, including “Fear of a Black President,” “The Case for Reparations,” and “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration,” along with eight fresh essays that revisit each year of the Obama administration through Coates’s own experiences, observations, and intellectual development, capped by a bracingly original assessment of the election that fully illuminated the tragedy of the Obama era. We Were Eight Years in Power is a vital account of modern America, from one of the definitive voices of this historic moment.

Ratings and reviews

4.4
28 reviews
Mike Bellamy
May 25, 2019
As one of the people on this planet who is pigment challenged I see this as an eye opening book that should be mandatory reading for my similarly challenged peers. This book chronicles the real costs, depth and breadth of racism, the true history of the United States and the lie at root of its founding. This is the story of our country's primal sin boldly written into our constitution; the sin that has never been repudiated and has only become more insidious and vicious since slavery was defeated; and that continues to perpetuate itself in both in our formal laws, informal laws and personal attitudes. This is also the unvarnished description of a very good and intelligent man of deep pigment and high integrity who won out against unbelievable odds only to be undone by a brutal rapist and racist. This is an unfinished story that will most likely not have a happy ending; our story and we better all read it before we visit our unhappy ending on our children and there children.
11 people found this review helpful
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anwar morse
February 12, 2018
A very well written downer which presents a cynical view of the American cultural landscape. Though it feels largely accurate, I do find the insights it offers in regards to America's progress and future incomplete.
5 people found this review helpful
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Dazzmond Hill
March 24, 2020
Simply amazing, unflinching, sobering, and defiantly un-optimistic.
1 person found this review helpful
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About the author

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic. His book Between the World and Me won the National Book Award in 2015. Coates is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. He lives in New York City with his wife and son.

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