
We Were Eight Years in Power
An American Tragedy
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Narrated by:
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Beresford Bennett
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By:
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Ta-Nehisi Coates
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.
*Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
New York Times Best Seller
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 Times • USA Today • Time • Los Angeles Times • San Francisco Chronicle • Essence • O: The Oprah Magazine • The Week • Kirkus Reviews
"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' 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' 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.
©2017 Ta-Nehisi Coates (P)2017 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Powerful...a searing meditation on what it means to be black in America today." (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times)
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Here are the eight original essays. I warn you, however, that you are only cheating yourself if you skip the book. Those binding essays, those value add spaces, the introduction and the epilogue are all worth your time, and yes, your money. If you have never read Coates, pick an essay. Read it. If he unmakes you a bit. Good. Read more.
Year 1 - This is How We Lost to the White Man - May 2008
Year 2 - American Girl - Jan/Feb 2009
Year 3 - Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War? - Feb 2012
Year 4 - The Legacy of Malcolm-X - May 2011
Year 5 - Fear of a Black President - Sep 2012
Year 6 - The Case for Reparations - June 2014
Year 7 - The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration - Oct 2015
Year 8 - My President Was Black - Jan 2017
* His Civil War essays seems to ignore this rule/format, but meh.
The Unmaking of America
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Performance of narration belittles the content of narrative
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Another good reason to focus
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Editorial insight of the greatest caliber
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We were 8 years in Power review
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An Extremely Gifted Author
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Excellent collection of essays
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In the process Ta-Nahesi discuses the New Jim Crow and his interpretation of the issues Michelle Alexander does an excellent job of shaping in her book. He disagrees a bit, but for my money, her assessment is on point. However his recounting of discussions with the President, are worth the price of admission & highlights the perspectives that shaped the President’s ideas about race in America and shapes the fate that we now find ourselves in.
From Reconstruction to Donald Trump!!
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Brilliant and enlightening!
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TRUTH
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