Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America

by Ijeoma Olua

Published December 1, 2020
by Seal Press

Rating: 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genre: Non-Fiction (Adult) / Own Voices

From the author of the New York Times bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race, a history of white male America and a scathing indictment of what it has cost us socially, economically, and politically

After the election of Donald Trump, and the escalation of white male rage and increased hostility toward immigrants that came with him, New York Times-bestselling author Ijeoma Oluo found herself in conversation with Americans around the country, pondering one central question: How did we get here?

In this ambitious survey of the last century of American history, Oluo answers that question by pinpointing white men’s deliberate efforts to subvert women, people of color, and the disenfranchised. Through research, interviews, and the powerful, personal writing for which she is celebrated, Oluo investigates the backstory of America’s growth, from immigrant migration to our national ethos around ingenuity, from the shaping of economic policy to the protection of sociopolitical movements that fortify male power. In the end, she shows how white men have long maintained a stranglehold on leadership and sorely undermined the pursuit of happiness for all.

My Thoughts:

Another amazing book by Ijeoma Oluo. (If you haven’t read So You Want to Talk About Race yet, add it to your TBR!) Mediocre is as enlightening as it is infuriating. Oluo’s combined clarity of thought and eloquence with which to voice it is a rare combination. She writes with her frustration and anger obvious, but never sinks to the combative level characteristic of her critics. I knew it would be well-reasoned and thoughtful but the level of research undertaken and presented was surprising. There is so much to be gleaned from this book, one reading is not enough. I marked so many pages I really shouldn’t have bothered. How lucky I feel to live in the Age of Oluo. She always brings me to a more cerebral understanding of the forces at work in our society. Thank you to NetGalley and Seal Press for the opportunity to read this book.