內容簡介
美國國家圖書獎得主《在世界與我之間》作者Ta-Nehisi Coates最沉痛的告白剖析歐巴馬執政期間非裔美國人所面臨的困境與衝突
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「充滿力量…真實闡述身為現代非裔美國人的血與淚。」─《紐約時報》知名書評角谷美智子
本書內容收錄Ta-Nehisi Coates在《大西洋雜誌》刊登〈Fear of a Black President〉、〈The Case for Reparations〉及〈The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration〉等文章精華，再結合8篇鮮明、寫實的論文，審視美國首位非裔美國人總統歐巴馬施政8年帶給非裔美國人什麼樣的省思與希望。透過Coates個人經驗、觀察及認知，剖析歐巴馬執政後的非裔美國人政權仍處在灰色及沉重的時代，內容談論的不僅是政治改革，同時也為現代非裔美國人再度發聲，提倡種族正義運動及重新審視過往的歷史。
About We Were Eight Years in Power
A sweeping collection of new and selected essays on the Obama era by the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me
“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. Now 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.”
But the story of these present-day eight years is not just about presidential politics. This book also examines the new voices, ideas, and movements for justice that emerged over this period—and the effects of the persistent, haunting shadow of our nation’s old and unreconciled history. Coates powerfully examines the events of the Obama era from his intimate and revealing perspective—the point of view of a young writer who begins the journey in an unemployment office in Harlem and ends it in the Oval Office, interviewing a president.
We Were Eight Years in Power features Coates’s iconic essays first published in The Atlantic, including “Fear of a Black President,” “The Case for Reparations,” and “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration,” along with eight fresh essays that revisit each year of the Obama administration through Coates’s own experiences, observations, and intellectual development, capped by a bracingly original assessment of the election that fully illuminated the tragedy of the Obama era. We Were Eight Years in Power is a vital account of modern America, from one of the definitive voices of this historic moment.