Mediocre

The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America

De: Ijeoma Oluo

Narrado por: Ijeoma Oluo

Duración: 10 h y 1 m

Resumen del Editor

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race, an “illuminating” (New York Times Book Review) history of white male identity.

What happens to a country that tells generation after generation of white men that they deserve power? What happens when success is defined by status over women and people of color, instead of by actual accomplishments?

Through the last 150 years of American history—from the post-reconstruction South and the mythic stories of cowboys in the West, to the present-day controversy over NFL protests and the backlash against the rise of women in politics—Ijeoma Oluo exposes the devastating consequences of white male supremacy on women, people of color, and white men themselves. Mediocre investigates the real costs of this phenomenon in order to imagine a new white male identity, one free from racism and sexism.

As provocative as it is essential, this book will upend everything you thought you knew about American identity and offers a bold new vision of American greatness.

©2020 Ijeoma Oluo (P)2020 Seal Press

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Ripped, tragically, from yet another and another and another set of headlines, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America breaks ground and forces a bold, startling, and necessary conversation about the implications of institutional supremacy, and its crushing impact on people of color and women." (Patrisse Khan Cullors, cofounder, Black Lives Matter, New York Times best-selling author of When They Call You a Terrorist, joint recipient of The Sydney Peace Prize)

"Once again, Ijeoma Oluo uses her elegant voice to speak directly to the root issues at the core of the United States' seeming inability to reconcile who we have been with who we had hoped to be. This book goes beyond how we got here, and digs into where we are, what we're going to do about it, and what's at stake if the people with the most power refuse to do better." (Ashley C. Ford, writer)

"Oluo is one of our great voices and Mediocre not only educates us, but it inspires us all to act and change the world for the better. But first, I need to read this book again. It's just that damn good." (Phoebe Robinson, New York Times best-selling author of You Can't Touch My Hair)

Do yourself a favor and read this book!

This book examines the trauma of white male supremacy on all people including white males. it is done with thoughtfulness and world class thoughtfulness. Ijeoma Oluo speaks in the direct yet hopeful spirit of the Hebraic prophets. Ijeoma Oluo, thank you for this work!

amazing writing amazing talent.

so smart, so thoughtful, extremely captivating. The work behind this book is so appreciated. Beautiful, thank you. 💛🙏💛

the system works as designed

A rare look at how racism and sexism have particularly shaped the modern white male.

I will encourage everyone I know to read/ listen to this.

The book we need right now

The writing is very easy to take in despite the loaded subject. It’s very helpful to have historical context for the behavior we see in headlines and in everyday moments. And definitely one of the best “read by the author” audiobook performances I’ve heard in a while.

powerful! an absolute must read

I cannot express how amazing this book is. as a white man reading it I was shocked, angry, ashamed, and so many more feelings but they were all 100% necessary. every single person with a shred of decency or care regarding racial inequality, white supremacy, and/or feminism absolutely should read this book

Masterpiece

Ijeoma Oluo continues to pull me up from the depths of exhaustion and apathy over the world we live in with her hard truths, wry takes, and the life giving balm of hope. Can’t recommend this book and her other writings enough. Please. Read . It. All.

Excellent perspective!

I learned a great deal. I respect the courage it took to share her personal experiences and understanding in addition to the information and historical perspectives.

A Much Needed Read for All

Thorough research. Clarity. Should be read by all who care about America's continued forward progress. The country needs more courageous women like her.

A heartfelt plea...

The fact that the author is also the voice talent makes for an authentic listening experience that is more cathartic testimony and heartfelt plea than simple narration - particularly in the way she describes and indicts the ideas and institutions of violence that are both promoted and commodified in America.

I believe what Oluo puts forth is bitter medicine - not only for white men to hear (particularly when their spirit is seized in the clutches of such despair and self-loathing)...but also in regard to the role that patriarchy plays in the perpetuation of violence and domination among all men (speaking as one) - in relation to ourselves, each other and everybody else.

Kudos Ijeoma...I salute your willingness to be so courageous, thoughtful and vulnerable in writing such an important book.

This was so enlightening.

I read So You Want to Talk About Race soon after it’s release and adored how Ijeoma Oluo explained things in a way that just really worked with my brain. I was a little nervous going into this one because it seemed like it was going to involve a lot more history and despite loving history as a student, I’m not always good at reading about it now. I am pleased to report that all of my concerns were for naught. Ijeoma Oluo is remarkable at how well she takes this pretty huge idea and cuts it down into very understandable pieces with perfectly chosen illustrative examples. I think this book likely could have spiraled into such a huge project that would have felt overwhelming, but Oluo is deliberate in what she chose to include and discuss. You can tell that her examples were chosen with care and really expanded and shed light on things and people who have a very one-sided positive history most commonly told today. I am still seething over the fact that President Teddy Roosevelt has a reputation of being a conservationist when he just kept ignoring the treaties the US made with Native people and took land that was never meant to belong to this country.

This book was well organized and has section headers that I really appreciated. In the introduction, Oluo talks about how things “work by design” so even when something is infuriating and unjust, but there’s “nothing to be done” that it’s often a sign of something working just as it was designed. This is a theme that carries through the entire collection and is really powerful. Oluo makes the case that we have to try something different if we are to save the planet and our country and it’s a compelling argument. It’s also subtle in some ways. She pulls back sometimes on sharing her opinion to give space for the reader to come to their own conclusion. It’s the cross-examination method of asking every question but the last one because you want the jury to be forming the answer to that last question themselves. All of the pieces are there and at the very end, in her closing argument, Oluo hammers her points home. She does so effectively in large part because of how beautifully the rest of the book is laid out. Her conclusion introduces us to a new white man and takes a trek down the mass and school shooter line of reasoning. I would have appreciated more time on this topic, but I think it’s a brilliant place for her to end with an appeal to readers to do something. To change the design.

One final point, y’all may know I mostly read romance novels, and Oluo’s last paragraph in the acknowledgements is one of the most romantic things I’ve ever read and I would like someone to please point me in the direction of any romance novel that sounds similar to her real life love story. I hope Oluo and her partner have many, many years of happiness.