Notes from the first year -- "This is how we lost to the white man" -- Notes from the second year -- American girl -- Notes from the third year -- Why do so few blacks study the civil war? -- Notes from the fourth year -- The legacy of Malcolm X -- Notes from the fifth year -- Fear of a black president -- Notes from the sixth year -- The case for reparations -- Notes from the seventh year -- The black family in the age of mass incarceration -- Notes from the eighth year -- My president was black.
Summary:
"'We were eight years in power" was the lament of Reconstruction-era black politicians as the American experiment in multiracial democracy ended with the return of white supremacist rule in the South. In this sweeping collection of new and selected essays, Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the tragic echoes of that history in our own time: the unprecedented election of a black president followed by a vicious backlash that fueled the election of the man Coates argues is America's 'first white president.' We were eight years in power is a vital account of modern America by one of its most powerful chroniclers"--Back cover.
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