We Were Eight Years in Power: ‘One of the foremost essayists on race

From Obama to Trump, from black lives matter to the rise of the alt-right – THE definitive state-of-the-nation analysis of modern AmericaFrom 2008-2016, the leader of the free world was a black man. Obama’s presidency was a watershed moment in American history. In those eight years, the political conversation around race, gender, class and wealth shifted drastically – inspiring hope but also attracting criticism and breeding discontent. That discontent ultimately led to a shocking backlash in the election of Donald Trump.In this essential book, Ta-Nehisi Coates takes stock of Obama’s eight years in power, brilliantly navigating the intersections of political, ideological and cultural perspectives. And he reflects on his own journey through these years, weaving the public with the private to create a startlingly intimate and piercingly relevant memoir.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is the author of The Beautiful Struggle, We Were Eight Years in Power, The Water Dancer, and Between the World and Me, which won the National Book Award in 2015. He is the recipient of a National Magazine Award and a MacArthur Fellowship. He is currently the Sterling Brown endowed chair at Howard University in the English department.