Ijeoma Oluo - Mediocre

Oluos So You Want to Talk About Race has been one of the most recommended books during the ongoing racial justice movement. Her new offering is a nuanced analysis of white male Americaand how white supremacy has affected politics, football, and more. Oluo deftly combines history and sociological study with personal narrative, and the result is both uncomfortable and illuminating.

Washington Post

Ijeoma Oluos sharp yet accessible writing about the American racial landscape made her 2018 book, So You Want to Talk About Race, an invaluable resource for anyone looking to understand and dismantle racist structures. Her new book, Mediocre, builds on this exemplary work, homing in on the role of white patriarchy in creating and upholding a system built to disenfranchise anyone who isnt a white male.

TIME

Ijeomas revelatory and visionary new book confronts disturbing hidden histories that vibrate throughout our institutions and communities today. The connections and insights in Mediocre make it an essential read.

Austin Channing Brown, New York Timesbestselling author of Im Still Here

There is no one more adept at parsing the toxic effects of white male privilege and systemic oppression than the immensely talented Ijeoma Oluo. Her brilliant book is a master class in understanding how systems of domination working relentlessly in the service of white male patriarchy not only harm all women and people of color, but ultimately hinder white men themselves from reaching greatness.

Michael Eric Dyson, New York Timesbestselling author of Long Time Coming

Simply put, Mediocre is required reading and Im not-so-secretly envious of every person who gets to read this intelligent, well-written, and engrossing book for the first time. Oluo is one of our great voices and her writing not only educates us, moves us to be more compassionate and analytical about our roles in society, but it inspires us to act and change the world for the better. But first, I need to read this book again. Its just that damn good.

Phoebe Robinson, New York Timesbestselling author of You Cant Touch My Hair

Ripped, tragically, from yet another and another and another set of headlines, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America breaks ground and forces a bold, startling, and necessary conversation about the implications of institutional supremacy, and its crushing impact on people of color and women.

Patrisse Khan Cullors, cofounder, Black Lives Matter, New York Timesbestselling author of When They Call You a Terrorist, and joint recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize

Oluo masterfully maps and diagnoses the pervasive plague of white mediocrity as a long-standing yet substandard model for American success. Mediocre brilliantly serves as a pressing call to action for every person, regardless of race or gender, to examine ones relationship with white male mediocrity, to understand its harmful effects, and to actively resist its hold.

Kimberl Crenshaw, executive director, African American Policy Forum, and professor, UCLA and Columbia Law Schools

With Mediocre, Ijeoma Oluo gives us another book of profound and important truth in service of liberation. Her skillful, straightforward, and accessible writing style cuts to the heart of white male supremacy and holds it up for us to reckon with. With a deep love for humanity, she shows us how the legacy and current ubiquitousness of this system is life-destroying for people of color and even for white men ourselves.

Matt McGorry, actor, How To Get Away With Murder and Orange is the New Black, activist, and cofounder of Inspire Justice

In her illuminating new book, Ijeoma Oluo unpacks how mediocrity is a privilege created and perpetuated by our obsession with white male superiority. Oluo deftly balances the cultural history of white western male mythmaking with contemporary cultural criticism of the aggrieved white American man. It is a deft and thought-provoking book that contextualizes public discourse on race, class, and gender in America.

Tressie Mcmillan Cottom, author of the National Book Award finalist Thick

Once again, Ijeoma Oluo uses her elegant voice to speak directly to the root issues at the core of the United States seeming inability to reconcile who we have been with who we had hoped to be. This book goes beyond how we got here, and digs into where we are, what were going to do about it, and whats at stake if the people with the most power refuse to do better.

Ashley C. Ford, writer

Mediocre is urgent, powerful, and laced with an acidity that forces us to contend with our own complicity in a culture that systematically oppresses women, people of color, and especially, women of color. America is a nation that aspires to greatness but refuses to acknowledge how its laws and conventions instead protect white male mediocrity. Both So You Want to Talk About Race and Mediocre are necessary reads, because few writers are as vital to understanding our present moment as Oluo.

Jeff Yang, author, CNN contributor, and cohost of the podcast They Call Us Bruce