Mediocre

The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published Dec. 1, 2020 by Seal Press.

ISBN:
978-1-58005-951-0
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4 stars (13 reviews)

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.

(source: Seal Press)

6 editions

Review of 'Mediocre' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

In all honesty, I picked up this title because I’m a woman working in a female-dominated field where many of our directors are white men. However, this book digs so much deeper in the history of our entrenched system of white male supremacy that I feel I have been given a new powerful tool to help me better understand my world.

Review of 'Mediocre' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

"History is very kind to the memory of mediocre white men."

Ijeoma Oluo's Mediocre is a history of how the United States has upheld white male power, the systems they created, and how this has impacted society and given us the systemic issues we all continue to face today.

Oluo sets a tone from the start of the book, when she gracefully, effortlessly shows how simple it is to be trans-inclusive:

"Men without uteruses should not control our reproductive choices."

"When I talk about mediocrity, I talk about success that is measured only by how much better white men are faring than people who aren’t white men."


It was nice to see that allyship so clearly, right off the bat. I felt like I could relax, that whenever she needed to use the general words "women" and "men," I could safely assume a meaning far more nuanced than a gender …

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