Summary of Ta-Nehisi Coates's We Were Eight Years in Power

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Ta-Nehisi Coates's We Were Eight Years in Power in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book.Original book introduction: 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638153771

IRB Media

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Summary

of

Ta-Nehisi Coates’s

We Were Eight Years in Power

An American Tragedy

Table of Contents

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Important People

Author’s Style

Author’s Perspective

Overview

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy (2017) is a collection of feature essays for Atlantic magazine written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. They discuss race and racism during the Obama administration.

Coates was swept up in the excitement over Barack Obama’s election to the presidency in 2008. Obama’s victory gave Coates faith in his country’s willingness to confront and overcome racism. But over the course of Obama’s two terms, he became disillusioned.

Obama’s mother was white, and he grew up around supportive white relatives, which is unusual for most African Americans. Obama trusted white people as a group and was able to express that trust in a way that made liberals hopeful for the future. But many other people were angered merely by the fact of Obama’s success as a black man. During Obama’s presidency, Coates realized that the president could not even allude to racism without being subjected