We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to read and review this book prior to publication date. It has not impacted my thoughts or opinions about the book.

4.5 stars. This book is a hard, necessary read, and I hope people pick it up. If you're new to Coates', his writing style can be a bit difficult to get into a groove with and he makes statements that are meant to rouse critical thinking and instant impact.

I started this book without much knowledge of the layout or format. While I might say this is a good introductory volume to Coates' work, I think it helps if you've read either Between the World and Me or The Beautiful Struggle. This memoir is laid out as an essay collection that attempts to span black American history from slavery until modern day, but in the lens of President Obama's eight-year tenure.

At first I was a little disappointed. I've read most of Coates' work in The Atlantic before, and the book is roughly 35 percent new content and 65 percent articles either directly from The Atlantic or adapted from the publication itself. I shouldn't have been; Coates offered insight and new content prefacing each of these older articles, giving context and a bit of hindsight knowledge. It was also great to revisit some of Coates' journalistic work, since I find that reading in print (or on Kindle) is a very different experience than reading in a Web browser.

Those who have been living blind to their privilege may feel threatened or attacked by his words. Coates doesn't soften the blow, and he is pretty highly critical of Obama's race-blind policies.

I would suggest reading this section by section - read the new material, then the essay or article from The Atlantic - but take breaks between sections. It's a lot to read if you plow through it all at once like I did, and since it's not a truly narrative volume, breaking it into sections is a good way to ponder the material. I also think this work would make a great book club pick.