Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America

CWs: References to sexual harassment, pedophilia, and sexual violence; discussions of white supremacy, racism, police brutality, hate crimes, and (reported) racial and sexual slurs; explorations of genocide, anti-Indigenous violence, war crimes, and chattel slavery; exploration of misogyny, deportation, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and antisemitism; some descriptions of online harassment, domestic terrorism, suicide, and gun violence

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maxgdy's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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rachrreads's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.5

While I agree with many of the arguments in this book on white male supremacy in America, I found the flow of the book to be hard to follow. This book really just felt like a bunch of essays thrown together with the main points of the argument at the beginning and end.

I learned quite a bit through all these stories/essays though, so that really helped the rating.

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junefish's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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aqtbenz's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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emfass's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Ijeoma Oluo is simply one of the best writers writing today. In both this and So You Want to Talk About Race, she takes very tough and complex issues and makes them accessible. She is thorough and thoughtful and I honestly could have read another 100 pages or more of this book. It was also incredibly impactful to listen to the audiobook and hear Oluo's words in her own voice.

The introduction and conclusion chapters are vibrant and necessary overviews of the violence and harm caused by white male supremacy in the U.S. The chapters in between cover related topics by way of specific stories throughout American history. I deeply appreciated the unpacking of these important moments, and in particular the historic events I've lived through.

Especially eye-opening to me were:
-the stories of Buffalo Bill and the Bundy brothers (Chapter 1)
-an exploration of Bernie bros (Chapter 2, possibly my favorite section of the book, as it helped put to words so many things I've sensed but didn't know how to say)
-the history of access (or lack thereof) to higher education in the U.S. (Chapter 3)
-the horrific tactics that white people used to try to keep Black people from leaving in the post-Reconstruction South (Chapter 4)
-the "problem" of women in the workforce after World War II (Chapter 5)
-the Squad's political career as women of color in Congress (Chapter 6)
-the racist history of football in the U.S. and the tidal wave of backlash that follows when players (including Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett) try to use their voice for change (Chapter 7)

Throughout the book, Oluo also shares many instances of the cruel, unjust, horrifying abuse she has endured as a Black woman writing very visibly about racial, feminist, and social justice issues. She does it not for pity, but I think as firsthand examples of the lengths white men will go to when they feel threatened.

I highly recommend this to everybody.

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sidbookreviews's review against another edition

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challenging informative fast-paced

5.0

This is one of the most important books, and one of my most favourite non-fiction books that I have read in quite some time. Mediocre is a sharp, challenging, nuanced, multifaceted, clear and effective book that serves as a history and examination of white male supremacy in America and a scathing look at the systems of power it has created. So much is covered in this book, with historical and present examples of how white male supremacy has affected everything from the economy to the environment to politics and general society. Mediocre is everything I hoped for when reading the title and more. It's no question that Oluo is immensely talented and this book is a truly fantastic piece. Seldom do I adore non-fiction as much as I did this book. I think it's also worth noting that I read this as an audiobook, which I would highly recommend, as it's read by Oluo herself and is a very powerful and passionate reading. Overall, I can't recommend Mediocre enough.

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