... searing ... continues the work of Oluo’s 2018 bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race? She reveals the levers and pulleys of systemic racism in America...The difference between the two works is of showing and telling. The first book told, literally: It guides people through navigating thorny conversations about race. Mediocre shows ... If you’re thinking you’ve heard this before — see slavery to mass incarceration — think again. The author excavates episodes even the most dutiful student of history may have missed ... a fast, engaging read, and Oluo is a warm, evenhanded narrator ... She occasionally lists atrocities in generalities ... This rhetorical choice does not resonate as profoundly as the precise historical examples she cites, along with her personal experiences ... This book is anything but mediocre, and it is the perfect holiday gift for any mediocre white man on your shopping list. Or just about anyone.
... the text is not simply a catalogue of terror; it is a conversational call to action, an urging to rewrite our definition of White manhood and diminish the power it holds. Oluo is asking us to evaluate the myths America tells itself about itself, see the violence within, be honest about the perpetrators and the victims, and then tell different stories. Truer ones. But she is also inviting us, on occasion, to chuckle. There is levity and voice in Mediocre, which Oluo dedicates to 'Black womxn.' The work presents nuanced historical accounts and analyses of America’s westward expansion, education system, mistreatment of women in workplaces, politics and sports, while interjecting the author’s personality and personal history.
... a deep-dive into socio-political research, research that ends up being personally traumatic and triggering for [Oluo], into just how unjust the patriarchal world is and proposes a solution ... Oluo exposes white supremacy as everywhere, not just in some alt-right corner of some place far away from us ... Using statistics, anecdotal evidence and persuasive eloquence, Oluo depicts a world where white male supremacy harms us all ... This isn’t a book that explains how to navigate microagressions. It tears open the macro aggressions and macro injustices and demands a better future ... shocking reading ... Olou truly understands the injustices towards black people, and it is only when people of colour and women and other minorities unite to fight off patriarchal oppression will we have a system that is actually fair ... This book is anything but mediocre.
... a wide-ranging study of white, male identity ... Outstanding chapters also scrutinize the anger and fervor of Bernie Bros, resentment toward women in politics, right-wing attacks on higher education, and even the origins of football as a sport designed to foster a white, male ideal. The work remains strong throughout, as Oluo grounds her research in interviews and primary sources, while also describing the harassment her family has faced because of her writing ... Oluo calls on us to do better because we deserve better, and her words will resonate with all ready to look inward and enact change.
In Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, Ijeoma Oluo punches up rather than down, reckoning culturally, politically and historically with white men ... Oluo historicizes the creation of a violent and profane American white masculinity. Rooted in 'muscular Christianity,' this conception of manliness, she ably demonstrates, also gave us American football ... Wide-ranging in the cultural history it provides, Mediocre illuminates the various ways white men work to maintain racial power. They abandon tough political positions when those positions undercut their ambition ... Oluo argues that all of us, 'regardless of demographic, have played a part in upholding white supremacy.' It’s the one claim in this book that strains credulity, given the clarity with which Oluo shows how white men’s mediocrity — entitlement tethered to unearned power and accolades — makes life harder for everyone ... For many, this book will appear to be a closed fist, but for the keen eye, it is an open hand.
Oluo persuasively argues that the result of leaving power in the hands of men like Cody and Preston is not equal, fair, or even advantageous. Mediocre is an eloquent and impassioned plea for the moral and practical value of pursuing a more just future.
Ijeoma Oluo, author of the bestselling book So You Want to Talk About Race , offers a historical and sociological view of the toxic white male identity in her new book, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America . Oluo persuasively argues that American society is structured to preserve the power (and tastes) of white men and outlines how we got here ... Oluo expertly shows how inequality, toxic masculinity and an unequal power structure deeply hurt all Americans, including white men. Through careful research and scholarship, she breaks down the system that sustains the status quo while shedding light on the ways others can also dismantle this system to ensure a more equitable future for all. It’s an essential read during times of political upheaval and unsure futures.
A gifted storyteller and thorough researcher, Oluo analyzes these histories, many of them lesser known, with solid scholarship and useful pop-culture references ... A bold, incisive book on heavy topics with a call to action for a more equitable future that doesn’t center White men.
... [an] incisive treatise ... Erudite yet accessible, grounded in careful research as well as Oluo’s personal experiences of racism and misogyny, this is an essential reckoning with race, sex, and power in America.
