We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates

In my circles, anytime a group wants to focus on race/race issues, the book that is normally turned to is Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow. It is a fantastic book and should be studied, but I almost always push for a different book- Between the World and Me by Coates. Why? It is less about stats and figures and gets to a personal and deeper level of race relations. The book is a letter to his son about growing up as a black man in America. To me, it just brings everything home.

I mention this because this book is his follow up to the incredible Between the World and Me. The question is- does it stand up? Is it just as powerful?

These are 16 essays, two for each year of the Obama Presidency. The first is Coates relating what is happening in the larger context to his individual outlook. He paints a big picture of what was happening in the world with just a handful of pages.

Then he zeroes in on one particular moment during that year to talk about what it meant for the black experience in the world. The first, for example, was Bill Cosby's speech that was both praised and panned about growing up as a black individual in America. Coates, obviously knows what will become of Cosby, but he frames that speech with what was happening, how it was received, what it meant, and what happened to Cosby. He writes an essay on Michelle Obama and a few other individuals.

What I love about Coates' work is he has a unique way of looking at the world and just putting it out there to observe. He has an opinion on it and just lays it out with a lot of knowledge, experience, and history behind his words. He tries to view each item through several angles before coming to his conclusion. The amazing thing is he does it all within a few pages. None of the essays are terribly long, but the are all incredible.

This one has a lot of hype going into the Fall book season and there is a good reason for it. This one is an immediate buy, underline, hold onto, and buy it for a friend. It is that good, especially for those who want a conversation about race. So, so good.

I gave this one 5 stars.

*I want to thank NetGalley for the advanced copy. I received it in exchange for an honest review.*