We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates
I'm going to start this review by recommending this book. We Were Eight Years in Power is Coates reflection on Obama's presidency in a way that reflects race and the problems that America currently faces. Each of the essays had been released previously with the epilogue being one of his latest for The Atlantic titled the The First White President. If you've already read any of these essays then hopefully the insight he provides before each will put them in a new light for you.
Coates is a powerful writer. I've read his two previous books and found them to be absolutely incredible. This is no exception. I wasn't familiar with Coates writing when the first few essays were released. Seeing those essays next to his later work was very enlightening. His writings before each essay proved his growth in not only his writing but also his frame of mind. As his circumstances changed and his writing style changed so did parts of his outlook. I enjoyed reading those reflections and witnessing that growth.
My only complaint with this book is that some of the essays seemed repetitive. But that's only because so much had to be reiterated in order to shed new light on the topic. But with everything in the condensed form of a book, the repetition can become overwhelming. Regardless this book is a very apt narrative reflecting on America and the history some refuse to acknowledge which has cast us into the current political climate. I applaud Coates for always being able to describe and confront the many issues regarding race and US history head on. He refuses to shy away from history and the darkness it continues to cast.

I received an ARC of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ latest, We Were Eight-Years in Power via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. At the time of this review, the book had not yet been published.

Let me say this, I am a huge fan of Coates’ work. I’ve read much of what he’s published for The Atlantic and devoured Between The World and Me in a day ...and then sent copies to friends as gifts!

Coates is a uniquely honest voice during a time when honesty seems to be on the wane, and I always appreciate his candor in talking about issues of race and class.

We Were Eight Years in Power is essentially a collection of Coates’ most popular essays from The Atlantic so if you’ve read Fear of a Black President, The Case for Reparations, etc., you’ll recognize most of what you’ll read in this offering.

However, what wasn’t known were the reasons for each essay. It was nice to have context and insight as to the why. Even more, he elaborates on how the rising attention he received—along with each deserved accolade—made him feel.

While he was flattered, and buoyed, by the attention, he was also leery of how such “acceptance” of his work could muddy the waters.

It was welcome insight into a brilliant writer with a powerful voice.

I already know I’ll be adding this one to my shelf as a hard copy once it’s released. Coates is a writer, whose voice I’ve come to covet, for its honesty, boldness, and dedication to making issues of class and race known without sugarcoating the facts.

‘Eight Years In Power’ is a 400 plus page history lesson, exploring both our current history and how the effects of the past, even centuries prior, has affected the United States. Coates, whilst managing to explore post-Civil War reconstruction and its effect on African-Americans or white politicians fumbling their way through segregation, relates all of this back to the two terms of America’s first African-American President, and how race dogged his time in office more than any other serving president, despite how the figures stand against him.
Anyone who has ever studied History understands its enormous capacity for repetition and how we struggle to forget the instances in our past and therefore allow it to affect our present and ultimately, future. Coates’ part-memoir, part-collection of essays from his work at The Atlantic, examines the eight years that Barack Obama spent in the White House, and how his election not only broke the boundaries of American politics but simultaneously presented its own challenges and issues.
Coates does not dislike Obama, let’s get that out of the way right now. On more than one occasion, he states that he supported his campaign bid and his time in the White House. But, as any writer is want to do, he can also acknowledge the difficulties and the imperfections of Obama’s presidency. That is where the crux of his argument is based; he is the quasi-conservative, but something new, something we could put our faith behind. The anti-Bush answer.
This is a very interesting collection, incredibly well researched and accurately documenting the national sentiment, particularly for African-Americans during Obama’s time in office. As he points out quite insistently during one his essays, Coates’ main aim is to weave magic within his words, to create lyrics out of prose. It’s writing that makes you want to research, that opens up the mind to new ways of thinking, new ways of seeing. My favourite essays of his were the final one, exploring his conversation with Barack Obama at the end of his presidency and the transition to the 2016 election, and one in the middle about mass incarceration and the detrimental impact it was having on the African-American community. It’s an essay I think would go hand in hand with Ava DuVernay’s seminal Netflix documentary, ‘13’.
However, there were elements I wasn’t such a fan of. Coates’ writing seemed to drag in some elements, particularly the essays that were less of a personal opinion but closer to creating a histography. You get swamped under by numbers and facts and figures that it’s difficult to find the real sentiment within it. Essays drag on for a while, without seeming to come to a definitive conclusion, rather are pulling at different strings under one umbrella topic until we get a mish-mash of points.
This is an intense book. At times, the sheer amount of information and facts being thrown at you are enough to make you want to switch off to what’s being written. What I preferred were getting to read Coates’ own words, his own experiences; his conversations with real people about mass incarceration, about Obama’s policies and the election of Donald Trump. It’s an important read, if not an incredibly dense one. It might take you some time to really get through it, but it’s worth it.

This book is not "for me." Ta-Nehisi Coates does not write for white people--his audience is for people of color, specifically, black people. And that is okay. That does not make his essays any less necessary for me to read. How else can I become educated on important topics that people of color are speaking on or are upset about, if I don't pay attention?

When a person on social media tells me to go "get educated," this is the kind of book they are referring to--Ta-Nehisi Coates, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and other such authors have powerful lessons for us to absorb.

There's a point in the book where Coates wonders why white people like his writing so much. To say I "like" it might be going too far--but it certainly makes me feel things I've never felt before. He makes me ask questions of myself that I would never have felt otherwise. I feel a certain amount of shame, for sure--but I read Coates to find out what I need to do to recover what I have missed and just plain messed up. Coates' writing is a crucial education to those of us white people who do strive to be better than we were yesterday, and I'm grateful for it.

However, I did not care as much for We Were Eight Years in Power near as much as Between the World and Me. This one is way more political, obviously, and so it just didn't interest me. There are still many important thoughts to be gleaned from reading it, but there were also some sections I just skimmed over--for example, the essay on incarceration was filled to the brim with numbers...and I've never been great at reading for comprehension when surrounded by statistics.

I still think this is a valuable resource to understand the last 10 years in American political history, especially as it affects people of color. Ta-Nehisi Coates does a great job of laying everything out, no holds barred--I have learned so much from reading his two books.

Coates' <i> We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy</i> is an uneasy, thought provoking read. In this collection of essays, written for <i>Atlantic Magazine</i> he not only covers topics such as reparations, mass incarceration and institutionalized racism, but he places them within the framework of his own life and work, asking us "How did we get to the place we are now?"

Though this could have been a very academic, and dense tome, Coates does an excellent job of making it feel engaging and important to the reader. If there was a required reading list for all Americans, this should be on it.

I feel neither well-versed or intelligent enough to write a proper review of this amazing collection of essays from Ta-Nehisi Coates, but suffice to say I learned a great deal about America while his words both soothed and angered me. There is no doubt that Coates is the voice we need today. Seeing the past 8 years through his eyes, and understanding how we arrived at the point this country is currently at, makes me better understand how we ended up with white supremacy in the Oval Office.

The book, which is comprised of 8 essays from the past 8 years, is best read in small doses. Coates provides an overwhelming amount of information, and it is often hard to process (both mentally and emotionally.) I had read a few of these essays on The Atlantic when they were first published, but it was interesting to revisit them now knowing how 2016 would turn out, and with his commentary before each essay as he looks back on what he had written a few years before.

Coates is certainly essential reading, and it is almost hard to accept this is the final version as so much has changed even in the last few months that I'm guessing he finished. It is not a complete compendium, but it is good to know he will continue to be the voice we need in the darkness, however much longer that may last.

I am a subscriber to Atlantic magazine so most of these essays were familiar. Even though I had read them before it was nice to see them all together in one collection. I also enjoyed the introduction piece preceding each essay. It was nice to read the authors reflections since the writing and also to learn more about the personal aspects that contributed to each writing. Highly recommend!

Another excellent book from Coates! Though made up for previously published essays, I loved that he added sections to explain where his life/head was while writing each essay. Will definitely encourage book club discussions of this book!

This book is a must read. In it Coates shares his essays written during the Obama years. Wedged between each essay is an introduction talking about the events surrounding the writing of each piece as well as discussions about how we got to the 45th President. Coates doesn't mince words or talk around things. He is honest, thoughtful and writes beautifully.

I was initially excited to see that Ta-Nehisi Coates had a new book coming out, and then a bit disappointed that this is a revival of previously published content. Still, I think this collection is and will be an important one.

The title describes the structure - the book is divided into 8 sections, one for each year of Obama's presidency. Each section contains an essay written by Coates during that year, as well as a new introduction containing more context and reflection. The later essays were known to me, as I started following him after Between the World and Me was published in 2015. Those later essays are also the longest - "The Case for Reparations," "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration," and "My President Was Black" occupy nearly half of the volume - and naturally most closely match the narrative style for which Coates is now known.

It was interesting to travel back to 2008 (when his first book, The Beautiful Struggle, also appeared) and read his earlier essays. The first one focuses on Bill Cosby's black conservatism, a topic I didn't know much about and which is now tainted by the many allegations of sexual assault levied against him (Coates addresses this more recent history in his introduction). The second year's essay, "American Girl," is a gem about Michelle Obama. The third year's essay, "Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?" captured my attention as I live in a Civil War town (Gettysburg) which has both courted and suppressed black tourists over the decades.

This is not a quick or easy read, especially as one must read through today's toxic fog of what has followed America's first black presidency. I appreciate the annual snapshots of Coates' mood - and to some extent, the national mood - during the nationally significant time period of 2009-2016. I hope it will bring new readers both to his work and to The Atlantic, which is an important outlet in these times.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing the ARC.

This collection feels like a blend of journalism and essay with a bit of memoir as well. Ta-Nehisi Coates has gathered his best pieces of writing from the years of Barack Obama's presidency and pulled them together with new commentary for each. With extensive reporting, relevant historical research, and incredible insight, Coates examines the situation of black Americans throughout Obama's presidency and in light of the backlash to Obama that fueled the election of Donald Trump, and considers the impact of it all on American history.

Coates' "Between the World and Me" is brilliant, but this is even better, in my opinion, which is remarkable considering that the essays were written over a period of more than eight years. Most compilations of short works have at least a few weak pieces, but every single thing in this collection has something profound to say, though you can see the evolution of Coates' writing in each successive year. Coates is a master at blending relevant statistics, facts, and history into a compelling narrative that includes his own story. He shows how white supremacy has been not just a small part of history that we can sweep under the rug but actually a defining element of American culture and a fundamental influence on U.S. politics, from 1776 to Donald Trump. Coates demonstrates why the election of a black President does not mean we are living in a post-racial America. Many of us already knew that, of course, but no one puts it all together better than Ta-Nehisi Coates. "We Were Eight Years in Power" is a must-read.

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 <I>Between the World and Me</i> or <i>The Beautiful Struggle</i>. 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.

I was thrilled when I received an Advance Reader’s Copy of We Were Eight Years in Power from Random House because I love LOVE loved Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates and even included it in my list of 5 favorite reads from 2016! Coates has a wonderful style of writing that will leave you breathless (intentionally so as the author mentions in one part of this collection) and I will continue to gobble down his pieces.

We Were Eight Years in Power is a collection of 9 pieces that Coates has written for The Atlantic in the past 9 years, thus if you’ve been following Coates’s online articles, you’ve likely read some or all of these pieces before (they’re all still available online too). Before each piece begins, Coates ties each of the pieces to where he was personally, blending in some of the memoir style exemplified in Between the World and Me, and where America was socially, culturally, economically, and politically. This means that he often connects his pieces to the Obama administration (pre- and post-) and mentions how it influenced his articles, even if not explicitly stated in the features. I often found the justifications and positioning of when the pieces were written to be more interesting than the earlier pieces in the collection, probably because I found myself more interested in Coates and his reflections than Bill Cosby’s weird and harmful conservatism regarding the black community (something I hadn’t read about before now). It would have been nice if the dates that the pieces were originally published had been included next to their titles, in order to help the reader position when it occurred; this would also help this book stand 20 years from now if something happened that wasn’t common or accepted knowledge at the time of first publication (such as the widespread depths of Cosby’s transgressions, which Coates does acknowledge in the introduction for that piece, but would be missing for things uncovered in the future).

The collection includes pieces about (1) Bill Cosby, (2) Michelle Obama, (3) The Civil War, (4) Malcolm X, (5) Fear of a Black President, which is commentary on how Obama talked about race during his first presidential term, (6) The Case for Reparations, a viral piece that’s widely assigned on my college campus according to my undergrads, (7) Mass Incarceration, (8) My President was Black, a feature on Obama and reflections on his presidency, and (9) White Supremacy and Trump, a piece that serves as the epilogue and also recently went viral under the title The First White President.

The pieces become progressively longer as the reader progresses through the collection, presumably aligning with the growth of Coates’s readership and The Atlantic assuming that their digital readers would stay along for the ride and full length of the pieces. In my opinion, Coates’s writing strengthens throughout the collection, building upon his years of writing experience. In the introductions, Coates also corrects some errors that were in the previous publications of pieces or properly acknowledges sources that were neglected in the original publications.

At times, We Were Eight Years in Power could feel like reading an accessible textbook, but a textbook nevertheless. The readings are dense and cannot be pored over in one sitting. I really liked the collection, but if someone were completely unfamiliar with Coates, this would not be the first piece of his I recommended. Instead, I would thrust Between the World and Me into their hands and emphatically encourage them to read it immediately. It’s a bit more accessible and shorter and, within this collection, Coates perfectly sums up Between the World and Me with this description of his mindset at the time of writing, “I imagined of crafting a singular essay, in the same fashion (as James Baldwin), meant to be read in a few hours but to haunt for years.”

I recommend We Were Eight Years in Power to people already familiar with Coates and who haven’t read each of these pieces online yet. If you’re not familiar with Coates, make Between the World and Me the next book that you read.

We Were Eight Years in Power will be released at physical and digital U.S. bookstores on October 3, 2017!
Disclaimer: I was provided with a digital copy of this book for free from Random House Publishing Group – Random House One World via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in the review are my own and have not been influenced by Random House or NetGalley.

This review was also posted on my blog: http://girlwithabookblog.com/2017/09/19/we-were-eight-years-in-power-by-ta-nehisi-coates/

In "We Were Eight Years in Power," Ta-Nehisi Coates offers an examination of the Obama presidency, the role of race in American politics and a distressing coda related to the ascendency of Donald Trump. Some readers will find statistical and historical evidence to back up theories they may have already considered. Others may be stunned to see these facts marshaled in this way. Readers of The Atlantic will recognize large portions of the book, as each chapter is essentially a fresh introduction along with an article that previously appeared in the magazine.

Personally, I find Coates' synthesis impossible to refute. White people in America continue to benefit from what he describes as the "bloody heirloom," getting preferential treatment at every stage and level of existence, from the first day of kindergarten to the day they apply for a mortgage and beyond. Reading "The Case for Reparations," I am struck by the logic of his arguments. America is centuries overdue for a truth and reconciliation discussion and policy agenda.

"We Were Eight Years in Power" is one of the most important books of 2017.

Coates second book speaks loudly to a wide variety of people. Some people will be more angry, some shrugging, and others a rally cry, depending on the readers circumstance is how this book will be read. I believe the response may be different from his first book which caught attention, again from a wide variety of readers, and gained respect and admiration.

American history buffs and news junkies of all ideological backgrounds should have Ta-Nehisi Coates on their radar. Whether you love him or hate him, Mr. Coates has an uncanny ability to command the reader to consider his point of view, if only for a moment -- a power that will elate his followers and provide a welcome challenge to his critics.

Divided into eight essay chapters each with its own introduction, the book spans the whole gamut of black American history and how it is reflected back into the author's own life as a writer, a family man, and an individual. Citing news reports, primary sources, and other verifiable data, the case is laid out that the United States has systematically maintained an underclass of black Americans in the interest of preserving peace and stability for everyone else.

Critics will point out that while the essays meticulously lay out this case, it makes no attempt to provide remedies. The author himself points this out, but refers to H.R. 40, [https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/40/text] a bill introduced year after year by Representative Conyers, to establish a commission to study the long term effects of slavery, Jim Crow, housing discrimination, "the war on drugs," etc. Presumably, the argument is that the author doesn't have the answers, but that more needs to be done to explore what those answers may be.

In a political climate that invites and celebrates self-righteous raving, We Were Eight Years in Power is calm, intellectual, and impeccably sourced. It lays out some pretty damning evidence -- but it's not ranting and raving. Mr. Coates is not necessarily trying to make you feel the same way he feels -- but he is very invested in making sure you know the same things he knows.

I like Coates, but I didn't love this. I loved pieces, and there's PLENTY to think about and appreciate, but overall I found it repetitive. And I think I was just hoping for something a bit more linear. Might be better if you spread the sections out over time.

Eloquent, brilliant, poignant and essential are the words that instantly come to mind upon completing Coates's highly anticipated collection of political essays. I hope that this book and Between the World and Me become required reading in high school and university classrooms across this country.

This was a difficult book to review. It was also difficult to read and to know that what I was reading was truth. If you don't know it as truth, you need to go way back and look at how we became America and who the people were that made up the rules that some people, based on their sex or skin color, were considered less than. 

I've studied slavery and the Civil War for a long time. I worked with the Middle Passage Museum and met John Lewis, Coretta Scott King, and many other leaders of the rights movement and survivors of the what is still a racist South and North. Some people are just more blatant about it.

I along with a lot of other people expected Obama to stand up for race inequalities. But as it turned out he wasn't going to rock the boat either way. 

This journalist does. Here you get the unvarnished truth about all sides. In my humble opinion this should be a must read for all high school students. Especially places like Mississippi which in some towns have only in recent years, or make that year, have been forced to stop segregating blacks to the other side of the track schools.

There is no such thing as white supremacy. There are just insecure people who need to have someone to be better than so they aren't the ones on the bottom.

Thank you for this book Netgalley and Random House! Due to release October 3, 2017