Book Review: Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo
Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo
Publisher: Seal Press
Publication Date: December 1, 2020
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
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.
Mediocre should be required reading for everyone, especially white males. Of course, I knew that white males are the most privileged group in our society and that they have been scared of losing their power forever. They go to great lengths to keep from relinquishing even one iota of it. However, I didn’t realize just how pervasive and ingrained the myth of white male superiority is in our country. This book is well-researched and Oluo lays it all out in a way that left me wondering how I hadn’t put all of the pieces together before now. It’s truly amazing how much we capitulate to the white males of the world.
She starts all the way back with Buffalo Bill and ends up in the present day. She’s equal opportunity – it’s not just white male conservatives enjoying their status – she takes Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders to task as well. I especially appreciated what I learned about how women CEOs have been typically been treated. The section on the history of racism in the NFL was also enlightening – I wish that everyone against the players kneeling for the national anthem would read it.
Oluo has been doxed, swatted and received multiple death threats and yet she keeps on speaking and writing the truth. Just like her first book, So You Want to Talk about Race, (find my review of it here) Mediocre is written in her accessible style with some dry humor sprinkled in. I hope that everyone reads it.
(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)
