Mediocre is that rare book that overdelivers on what it promises. It's as if when we continuously pass up the opportunity to listen to those most affected by the shortcomings of our systems, and instead continue to reward those who benefit most from those systems, we end up making no progress at all. I appreciated that Oluo, after breaking down this history for us, also ends with hope and with her belief that we have to be able to divest from the systems and lies of white supremacy. It's pieces of history and arguments I'd heard before, assembled in a way that really brings home the idea of 'works according to design.' How many things in this country have a history and basis in keeping out people of color? How many things that harm us are indeed working exactly as they were designed? The basis of her argument and exploration is that white supremacy hurts everyone, including those white men who have been sold the lie that if they don't achieve what very few achieve, it is because someone non-white and non-male has taken it from them. Her writing is effective and accessible, and I just find that it exudes a kind of care and patience. Why I loved this book: Oluo has such a way of broaching subjects clearly. Why you may not like this book: You don't think white supremacy is an issue in this country and confronting the reality of white, male mediocrity will hurt your feelings. In the end, she shows how white men have long maintained a stranglehold on leadership and sorely undermined the pursuit of happiness for all. 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 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. 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 politicallyĪfter 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?

Mediocre by Ijeoma Oluo