Ta-Nehisi Coates is a masterful modern-day cultural critic and author; few have their finger on the pulse of American socio-politics quite like him. Most well-known for Between the World and Me, he has also written a number of excellent articles as a correspondent for The Atlantic. In We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy he curates a collection of these articles from each of the eight years of Obama’s presidency.

While you could still read these articles on The Atlantic, and totally should if you cannot afford the book or your library does not have a copy (full disclosure, my copy is an xmas gift), the book is still worth reading because Coates provides commentary on his frame of mind when he wrote each article. This is really good, especially as some components of his earlier works like “This is How we Lost to the White Man” and “American Girl” that do not hold up to his own present-day scrutiny.

Coates’ goal at The Atlantic was to help build a community that he could bounce ideas off of, as well as learn and grow from, and it shows with these reflections over the eight year period. Partly why he is so good at writing about the American human condition as it pertains to race and politics is because of his willingness to learn and grow. His passion to push himself forward reflects in his prose and literary analysis.

This especially shows in his later articles (chapters) “The Case for Reparations,” “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration,” and “My President was Black.” Stating all of this, I think the Epilogue, “The First White President,” may be the most affective, especially as its analysis of why/how Trump got elected is largely the catalyst for this collection. It is so truthful it will punch you in the gut. Up until this point, while Coates’ writes a great deal about prevalent systemic racism and injustice, the presence of Obama still denoted a certain type of hope, even for a realist like Coates. But Trump and his support reconfirmed all of his most pessimistic assumptions; I know it did for me.

This is not a cheery or hopeful book, but it is an honest and real one. I fully recommend We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy for both the academic and casual reader.