I greatly enjoyed Oluo's other book, So You Want To Talk About Race, so my hopes were high for Mediocre. This book definitely delivered, and I found this book to be an excellent exploration of how white men have shaped America. It is so relevant to this point, and every point, in time and I think everyone should read it.

I can't even quantify how much I've learned from reading Ijeoma Oluo's books (and listening to her videos online). She has this unparalleled ability to dumb down these really complex multi-layered issues into digestible pieces small enough that even us middle class mayos can easily understand them. This book was so important that I bought a copy as soon as it came out, even though I already had the ARC.

Very well-researched book on the history of white male supremacy in America. Oluo uses examples from the Civil War to make clear how white male supremacy is harmful to everyone and how it is imperative that we must break this system.

4.5 stars

Truly a must read - you will learn something. Guaranteed there are connections that Oluo makes that are going to be new for many. It is a bit dense, but Oluo provides numerous annotations in the back of the book for future reading. I highly recommend.

White male mediocrity feels right up my alley and I was wondering what connections Oluo would make between history, laws, systems and where we are currently. Literally no person is spared and I especially loved the deep dive into Biden and his flip flopping on bussing and well as the chapter on Bernie Bros. This isn't just a "let's skewer Republicans" book - Oluo really connects white male mediocrity across the political spectrum.

I think the best chapters were the chapter on the Old West, Teddy Roosevelt and Buffalo Bill as well as the chapter on the NFL. I learned so much about Buffalo Bill and I thought I knew a lot! It just reminded me that history is written by the victors, by the people who get to write the narrative. Buffalo Bill is remembered as a Buffalo conservationist when really he is responsible for the almost extinction of the animal. Teddy Roosevelt is remembered as a nature conservationist when he really just took land from Native people. I loved the connections made in this chapter in particular. The chapter on football, college and the NFL, was nothing new for me but the connection to white male mediocrity, and not just white supremacy, was especially poignant.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I'd highly recommend people read it.

Thank you to Perseus Books for an ARC to review

Ijeoma Oluo spills the tea about the legacy of mediocre (white) men in America--from westward expansion to present-day political campaigns and even the NFL--Oluo is unapologetic in identifying and dissecting what the system has been set-up to do by the founding fathers: elevate white (Christian) men.
Now, I understand many will be opposed to Oluo's message and delivery, that's fine, this book isn't for you. Oluo does not attempt to pinpoint every single instance of mediocracy, injustice, and system in place that allows these things to prosper. However, it is irresponsible to underestimate the reality that the systems in place have allowed for the continued oppression of BIPOC as a tool for elevation. Red lining is real, restrictive housing covenants are real, gerrymandering is real. Those who do not believe that the system was set up to oppress some while elevating others can go ahead a read the fine print on deeds and historic documents. Go ahead...I'll wait...
That aside, this is a passionate account of the realities of the various systems in place that continue to elevate mediocre white men and that has allowed sexism, bigotry, racism, classism (all the -isms) to endure. This is a condensed version of historical moments and policies in this country that allows readers an entryway into exploring more (or less) about each topic Oluo brings up. This is an excellent read for folks interested in learning more about why there needs to be a seat at the table for all voices to be heard and empowered--perhaps not on a macro-scale, but even in everyday recognition of opportunities for allyship for underserved and underrepresented communities.

What an incredible job Oluo did of mixing history with modern day examples to drive her points home! And while I mostly enjoyed this book, there were parts that I vehemently deny. While many will discredit my opinions and call it white privilege or white gaze or whatever else simply because I am white-skinned, I felt like some of her arguments were a little far-reaching. Having said that, I learned a TON from this book and I'm definitely going to dive deeper into many of the examples she put forth. Maybe I'll change my mind with a little more education - and I would fully welcome that! This is a book I would highly recommend...in fact, it's one I plan on rereading in anticipation of absorbing it a little different the second time through.

After reading Oluo's So You Want To Talk About Race, I knew I would read literally anything she wrote so when this book was announced I jumped at the chance.

This book was a masterful dissection of white men and how they shape America. I read parts and listened to other parts on audio and I was transfixed the entire time. It's one of those books that regardless of when you read it, it feels like Oluo wrote it just for you just for that exact moment in time. It is (unfortunately) so relevant and I will be recommending it to everyone.

I appreciated the mix of history, current events, and politics and how they are all tied back to the same issues. The book is truly masterful.

Mediocre was a book with a concept that I just couldn't pass up, like many I have heard the phrase "the confidence of a mediocre white man" and just couldn't not read this because I knew Ijeoma Oluo would do something brilliant with it, no surprise, she absolutely did. I learned so much from this book, this book also managed to keep me almost consistently angry throughout the whole book. Brought to light so many of the ways even the men that we consider progressive, even feminist, still fail us. It certainly lights a fire under me, a good reminder that we can truly never stop fighting for ourselves.
I loved this book, I learned so much from this book and I can't recommend it enough.

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, Mediocre is written in her accessible style with some dry humor sprinkled in. I hope that everyone reads it.

MEDIOCRE is one of those critical reads of our time that should be required reading for everyone. Ijeoma Oluo's writing is both powerful and educational in the way that she narrates historical events, often done through a more honest and candid lens, and then walks it forward to present day. These comparisons from the past to the present really highlight many of the themes that Oluo included in her second book, creating an eye opening depiction of how we've found ourselves in many of the situations we are still living through today. Similar to Oluo's debut, SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE, I thought it was incredibly impactful how she also included her own personal stories throughout the book. This really brought everything together to paint a more honest picture of the America that we have all been living in, but many have been unwilling to accept. So for anyone that has followed current events and thought "How did we get here?" - READ. THIS. BOOK.

Truly a must-read. The level of insight and rigor here displayed is commendable — that it's packaged in such an accessible form is what makes it all the more urgent and necessary.

If you want your blood to boil, then this is the book for you!

I took my time with this one. I was actually reading this when the Super Bowl happened - there’s a chapter about Football and the Super Bowl that I had just read right before that Sunday. And then I was still reading this when Framing Britney Spears came out - there’s a chapter called Fire the Women: The Convenient Use and Abuse of Women in the Workplace. And I also had just watched The Long Pond Sessions and had been listening to Mad Woman on repeat for days, so, yea, it was a rage-filled couple of weeks.

Similar to how Stamped blew my mind with all of the *real* history I ended up learning, I learned A LOT from this book.

From Cowboys to Bernie Sanders to the Ivy League, Oluo gives us a history lesson and ties it to the modern world where white male supremacy is still upheld. It’s truly no wonder why the Insurrection happened on January 6th.

White men in society have always and continue to be the priority in this country by all of us, regardless of race or gender. But, Oluo says, we can break free. “We must start making better and more informed choices - with our votes, our wallets, our media, our societal expectations. [...] We have to not only believe that we deserve better; we have to have faith that we can do better. And we have to start now.”

So...start now. And read this book.

Thank you NetGalley & Seal Press for the ARC!

What a book. What a time in our country.

Systemic racism is very real and is plaguing our country.

Oluo has such an impactful way of writing and teaching, sharing stories of her own life and humanizing the whole theme. I thoroughly enjoy reading her books, and look forward to what she comes out with next!

Ijeoma Oluo has this incredible way of tackling big topics in such an accessible way, mixing academic and conversational writing to create an approachable read no matter how comfortable you are with confronting heavy, difficult topics.

I loved the breadth of this book, exploring topics from all across the scope of American history—yet it all tied back to where we are today and how we continue to uphold white male supremacy in every part of our society.

Highly recommend anyone interested in learning more about gender, race, and systems of power add this to their reading list.

Wow. Another fantastic, informative, interesting, and powerful read from Ijeoma Oluo.
This book is super relevant in today’s times - an armed insurrection happened at America's Capitol while I was reading - and I feel like now I can see the world and things I hadn't noticed or considered so much more clearly. Highly recommend, 5/5 stars.

As always, Oluo gets to the meat of the matter at hand.

'So for whose benefit do we need to go so slowly?'

It's a question that the most privileged among us don't have to ask; as a white cis woman, I'm as guilty as any privileged person of accepting slow progress in issues that don't directly affect me, and calling for immediacy in things that do. Thank god for voices like Oluo which remind us not to be complacent.

I was eager to read and engage with Oluo’s take on white male supremacy after benefiting so much from her first book, So You Want to Talk About Race? I consider her first book an accessible and meaningful primer / refresher on issues of race that I recommend and come back to myself often.

This book is a next step. For those who want to dive more specifically into social issues and institutional structures created for and by white male supremacy and to understand how we are all participants and victims of those systems, the topics here, such as protests in college and professional sports, women of color in politics, and the prevalence of domestic terrorism, are recognizable from recent news headlines and accessible; the research in the book elevates it to informed academic discourse.

Ijeoma does it again! She is an MUST read author. Mediocre is so thought provoking. Well researched, she also shares her thoughts surrounding the topics, which I loved. She exhibits courage by sharing her own experiences. It was appalling to hear the violence she and her family endured. It's disgusting to hear about the white supremacy that runs rampant today, but it should be told. Thank you to Ijeoma for doing this so well. Her strength and courage to share her stories shines on every page. Simply put, required reading!!

Mediocre is a prophetic history book that has ALL the receipts. Certain parts of this book are so stunningly relevant to the political events of the November 2020 through January 2021 that it’s easy to forget that Mediocre was mostly written in 2019.

Is Ijeoma Oluo a psychic? I doubt it. The entire point of this book is that once you understand American history and our collective psychology, then the path we are on, and the harmful cycles we keep repeating, become painfully obvious. As a close student of history, Oluo (with more cited sources than I’ve seen in any book outside of a textbook lately—literal receipts) covers people and topics ranging from Buffalo Bill Cody to Joe Biden, Shirley Chisholm to AOC, from the founding of Ivy League colleges to the history of race in football. She compellingly weaves these wide-ranging stories and events together to make the case that white supremacy is a pyramid scheme that is harming all of us, including the white males that are “supposed to be” at the top. Yet we keep pulling the same levers and wondering why we keep getting the same terrible results.

The point, of course, is not that all white males are mediocre by nature, but that because Americans have built the white supremacy pyramid scheme right into our country’s identity and history, we keep elevating mediocre white males rather than letting qualified and competent people of color, especially women of color, lead us. And it’s gotten us nowhere good. Oluo calls us to imagine a better society that is safer and healthier for all of us, to reimagine our country free of the racist and patriarchal lies we’ve been feeding for literal centuries. And a good place to begin is by really understanding the history that brought us here. Oh, you need an accessible resource to learn some of that history? I highly recommend this book.

Mediocre, from Ijeoma Oluo, is easily the best book I have read in the past few years. Written in the tone of a friend talking honestly with another friend, it's an easy to read book that gives a no nonsense explanation of how America became a country that values average white men above all else. It uses several examples which Oluo clearly deeply researched and leaves the reader wanting more. Oluo is a talented author whose sharp writing skills are once again obvious in this excellent book.