Ijeoma Oluo has put together a seemingly endless string of situations where women and people of color have their lives battered and twisted out of shape by white male supremacy. By the end of Mediocre, the feelings of oppression, suppression and anarchic violence become overwhelming. This is life for minorities in America. Generation after generation. It’s essentially an impossible life. The abuse is stunningly widespread, omnipresent and intractable. It is ingrained and seemingly innate. The sole reason? To keep white males in control. It is so pathetic, it can often seem like minorities are just roadkill in the continual battle for and by white men to keep power. And yet, it is clearly wearing on white men, too. It’s complicated. And worth exploring:

Oluo bounces from tale to tale, from Buffalo Bill Cody to Colin Kaepernick, from women in the workplace to Elizabeth Chisholm running for president, from FDR’s programs to higher education’s blackballing. They all fit the premise that white male supremacy is a construct that is so twisted, so fragile and so demanding of its own, it’s a wonder it has managed to survive, let alone thrive. Even Bernie Sanders is faulted for his views; it is that ingrained in someone many see as a solution. It is artificial, bizarre, and damages white males as well as the minorities they feel entitled to rule.

She demonstrates how numerous programs and institutions foist discrimination on minorities. “Works according to design” applies to all kinds of programs such as the GI Bill, by which black soldiers were offered the lowest paying, most dangerous or menial jobs after WWII, and if they didn’t accept them, they would lose all their benefits under the law. Meanwhile, half of white GIs used their benefits to start their own businesses.

Works according to design also applies in finance, mortgages, and scholarships. Despite the highminded announcements, they all had the intention and the effect of keeping out minorities. Works like a charm, and Oluo details the finer points of how they pull it off. For those living in a fluffy cloud of white privilege, it can be a revelation.

Still in WWII mode, women were called upon to fill factory positions while the men went off to war. But government and various institutions spent those months plotting how to get them out of there and back in the home (“where they belong”). Polls asking what should be done with women workers after the war showed results like 48% saying “Fire them.” Women’s magazines told of divorce, infertility and death for those who persisted in factory jobs. Meanwhile 75-80% of the women themselves wanted to keep their jobs after the war. White supremacist men used lower pay, harassment and discrimination to force them out. Only white males should be the family breadwinner. Today, women CEOs face fatal criticism for words and actions that Wall Street praises in white men. Even FDR’s Depression programs forced women to stay home, by allowing only one government salary per family. Naturally, it went to the (white) male.

This kind of constant pressure on minorities is not isolated; Oluo has an endless supply of examples. It makes for unbearable negative forces, and of course, a much tinier rate of progress for the nation, because the white male supremacists demonstrate nothing if not mediocrity.

From Bernie Sanders on down, mediocrity disappoints Oluo. White male supremacists are far from the able geniuses who earn their positions in society by merit in her telling. But they are the only choice on offer. From the boardroom to the backroom, it remains a white supremacist country, where a Congressman like Steve King can wonder out loud when white supremacy suddenly became a bad thing in public life.

Oluo is a powerful writer, direct and to the point, making Mediocre a fast, easy read that penetrates. She likes short, declarative sentences, mostly in the active voice. And she minces no words: “The man who never listens, who doesn’t prepare, who insists on getting his way-this is a man that most of us would not like to work with, live with, or be friends with. And yet, we have, as a society, somehow convinced ourselves that we should be led by incompetent assholes.”

Or: “(Bullying and entitlement) are traits that we tell our children are bad, but when we look at who our society actually rewards, we see that these are the traits we have actively cultivated.“

These internal contradictions are what is holding back the entire nation. From peace, from co-operation and from forward movement.

Collectively, it might not be quite so bad if white male supremacists demonstrated keen judgment, able decision-making, and inspired leadership. But instead, Americans get jerks in power, from the front office to the highest office.

These traits take their toll on the mediocre themselves too. Oluo points out that of the nearly 42,000 suicides in the USA in 2017, 70% were white males. They were (and continue to be) disappointed they haven’t risen faster or further. They are under pressure from their peers, with whom they are in endless competition. Their families are a further source of pressure and depression, leaving essentially nothing for them to appreciate, enjoy or take pride in.

They blame minorities for their lack of success and esteem. As white males, they grew up assuming the corridors of power were open uniquely to them. There wasn’t supposed to be this added competition. It was all supposed to be automatic. Working under a woman or a person of color is the ultimate humiliation in a life of abject failure for a white male supremacist.

And if it isn’t suicide, it is mass murder. White males are the biggest single threat to innocent life in the country. White males are the biggest terrorists in the USA, from the AR-15 mass murderers to police with handguns. From Oluo’s perspective, the bitter disappointment factor is ruining an entire society.

She even has a chapter on American football, burdened with the demands of players for money, recognition, respect, and authority. While two thirds of players are men of color, only white men own teams, black quarterbacks were unknown until recently, and of course the uproar over the national anthem has turned the whole sport into, shall we say, a political football. Or, as Oluo puts it: “When we look at how the sport has embraced violence, undermined workers and exploited people of color – what could be more American than that?”

She portrays the verbal beatings taken by Mmes. Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Omar and Pressly as typical of the abuse heaped on competent women. Rather than debate them into submission, white supremacist males call them names, denigrate them, make absurd claims about their work and their lives, and of course, encourage them to go home. But then, they have a great inspiration behind them in the examples set by the president.

This is Oluo’s America, a tight knot of contradictions, violence and gridlock. Viewed from her perspective, it is a wonder the whole thing doesn’t collapse and implode. It’s is certainly not somewhere you would want to raise a family.

Incredibly perhaps, Oluo is not pessimistic. She believes it is possible for all to work and live together, given just a tiny change in attitudes. She does not call for protests, revolution or even legal challenges. Through it all, she has clung to her humanity.

David Wineberg

Ijeoma Oluo is one of my favourite authors. I love her style, her prose, and most of all, the brilliant things she has to say. As with everything Ijeoma Oluo writes, I got a lot out of this book, and I am grateful to her for writing it.

I feel like this book was preaching to the choir a bit which is fine! I already knew a lot of what was in the book but she went into great depth looking into how our country is in the state it is and why white men who are at the top of everything are so angry.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. This review is written with complete honesty.

This book is hard to read. It made me angry at how unfairly our society has been built, and it made me feel frustrated with how little progress we have made. That's not the book's fault though. It's society's.

This book was incredibly interesting. I appreciated how the sections were organized, logically building a case that was well researched (The number of sources she cited was staggering) and which was told with moments where the author's voice clearly mirrored my own thoughts.

I found myself frequently taking time to ponder what it was she had said, letting the major points of the argument turn over in my head so I could hoard them for later when I would need that ammo.

This book is highly discussable, and I would imagine that it would be good for a book club to read so that you would have others to talk with.

Ijeoma Oluo provides a deeply satisfying (if you're like-minded), well-researched, comprehensive, and emotionally heavy look into how the mediocrity of white men formed our nation's past and present. Looking at varied and relevant issues/events, Oluo shows us over and over again how these policies and institutions harm marginalized folks, and why white people (males especially) are invested in having them continue. There will be many people who hate this book, all while refusing to actually read it, but I would like to add my voice to the throng of people who will also say that this is a timely and necessary read. The ending is poignant in that she points out how white male supremacy is also harming that very population and that we ALL need to dismantle it within ourselves as well as wherever we see it around us.

From the Wild West to Fantasy Football to Politics (both left and right-leaning), Ijeoma Oluo demonstrates how white men have been culturally fed a sense of entitlement and success that hinges on the subjugation of women, other marginalized genders, and people of color. Her analysis is well researched and clearly presented. Drawing from historical contexts that have meaning in today's American culture, Mediocre explains why white men feel threatened by other groups and presents solutions that suggest that meaning shouldn't be found in success and wealth and out-competing others, but rather one of love and community. This book is helpful for anyone who is open to new questions and new frameworks of thinking, as well as anyone who has questioned how white male privilege has benefited the upper class for the entirety of US history.

Mediocre deserves all the 5 star ratings it has already gotten (and many more to come), and I hope it will educate many people during their antiracist journeys, as it did for me. If you are serious about being an antiracist, you should definitely read this book.

Ijeoma Oluo's Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America is anything but mediocre as it covers hundreds of years of while male hegemony and mediocrity in the United States. Oluo balances sophisticated historical and economic analysis with personal stories to create a thought-provoking, anger-inducing, tear-jerking, compulsively readable final product. You’ve likely heard some of the stories - the casual misogyny of Bernie Bros, the hate that AOC and other female politicians of color receive, and the racism encoded into popular programs like the GI Bill. But there was a lot that was new to me here - the first male feminists Dell and Eastman (yes, they were equally as problematic as a lot of male feminists today), the concept of Muscular Christianity, and the pioneering politics of Shirley Chisholm. Oluo ties each topic into the Western concept of white male supremacy, showing how insidious this political structure is.

Oluo writes well in language that is profound but also accessible. The frustration, pain, and societal disadvantage she has felt as a woman of color are evident in these pages. But so also is her hope for a better future for her children and country, and her conviction that we can work for change. It is up to all of us to do the hard work Oluo describes - to examine how we have been conditioned to live within the structure of while male supremacy, and then to seek to dismantle this power structure. As she writes, even if this work threatens white privilege and means many of us must give certain things up, it must be done, because all human beings deserve opportunity and freedom from oppression.

Thank you to Perseus Books/Basic Books for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oluo is a compelling and insightful writer. This book manages to impart so many facts and ideas, and yet remains digestible. It spoke to me on a very human level. It put names and shapes to vague notions that I have been unable to concretely verbalize.

Mediocre should be mandatory reading! Ijeoma Oluo has created another incredible book that showcases "how it is" without using rose-colored glasses. Oluo takes a look at the historical affects of white male supremacy on politics, sports, work place, people of color, women, and even the American cowboy.

White supremacy and the mediocrity of white men has lead to a legacy of oppression and societal failures. It is a lot to take in, but well worth the time and effort to delve deep into so many pervasive topics.

Oluo intermingles history, sociological study, and personal narrative to create a book that explores how mediocrity will continue to exist and to enrage the average white male. Highly recommend this book.

This book hits it out of the park. Iluo's take on the patriarchy and its devstating effects is insightful and thought provoking. Her humor and wit elevates Mediocre to a must-read.

This book was incredible! Ijeoma Oluo's writing is so clear and concise, it's a refreshing change of pace in the non-fiction sphere. I read her previous book "So You Want to Talk About Race" earlier this year, and "Mediocre" is equally as great. In this book Oluo tackles the age old question, "Why are white men like this?" While it's not an all encompassing history of white supremacy in America, "Mediocre" paints a clear picture of the insecurities of the modern white man that feels "left behind" in an age where we challenge the status quo and uphold political correctness. This is an intersectional feminist work that I've been craving. The way the book concludes, it isn't a demonization of white men. It seems Oluo genuinely can empathize while still holding them to a higher standard.

Please note this is a 3.5

This is a scathing interpretation of the current events that present themselves in the media, and one that is a little more intense than many others. It focuses on different facets than the normal books about this topic do- there's a study of groups that we may not consider as 'dangerous' as others, but who still have terrifying viewpoints. The Trump narrative recently has overwhelmed every facet of society, to a point where we don't think about the other kinds of racism and nastiness that have wormed into our world (or that have been there all along), but it's important to talk about those too.

However, I have the distinct feeling that some of this book is about things I have read before. The first two chapters specifically are about frequently discussed issues, and so the balance is a little thrown off by this. I found the sections on higher education and 'Bernie Bros' interesting- but the latter was a little off in terms of rhetoric, and didn't acknowledge the enormous harms that Clinton had proposed in her campaign compared to Sanders. It's important to highlight that there are now issues on all sides, and sometimes that commentary was a bit lacking.

With that said, I learnt a lot of new things, and I found it an interesting and sobering study of America, racism, politics, and a lot of other things. This book is well worth reading, and though it may be hard for some people to stomach, it should be done.

An intense and satisfying read--I love nonfiction like this. Sociopolitical analysis and examining societal issues through a specific lens is like food for my brain. Now, I went in agreeing with the thesis, so this went down easy for me. This will be a frustrating, uncomfortable read for those who don't like the central idea: that white supremacy, specifically the mediocrity of white men, has lead to a legacy of oppressive and pervasive systems as well as many of our societal failures.

But I liked this lens for exploring aspects of American history, current politics, the feminism movement, higher education, football (yes!) and more. I learned a lot reading this book--specific stories from history that I didn't know in the specifics, even if their implications were something I knew down in my gut. The book is intersectional--yes, white male mediocrity is the central thesis, but Oluo is very inclusive and covers a ton of ground, re: Black and POC women vs. whiteness but also how all women are harmed by male supremacy, etc. and so forth. There's a lot of nuance, including the ways white male supremacy is a lie for and in turn hurts white men.

Recommended as brain food if the thesis interests you. I would have happily read more, honestly!

A critical and extremely important book about race, privilege, and success. Mandatory reading for anyone working in an office or educational setting.

Ijeoma Oluo's upcoming release, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, is very timely and informative. I learned a lot from reading this book. I'd definitely recommend for anyone interested in social justice issues.

Thanks to Perseus Books and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available Dec 1 2020

Ijeoma Oluo's scathing and accurate new book, "Mediocre" is a fantastic analysis at the role of whiteness and patriarchy in creating and maintaining corrupt systems. Through an exploration of Manifest Destiny to exploring Kopernick and the NFL, Oluo presents case study after case study that strike against American "meritocracy". What was most illuminating is the way Oluo shows how the concept of white maleness is destructive to white males themselves.

One of the most moving portions of the book for me was the way Oluo describes the threat of toxic white maleness on her own life, from suicide notes and death threats in her emails to an actual SWAT team called on her teenage son. Oftentimes, we don't see the toll that doing this type of work has on the writer and the writer's family. We forget that they too are humans with emotions and stress limits. Reading it made me even more in awe of Oluo's grace and strength and bravery to continue to engage in these conversations.

Much love.

Thanks to NetGalley and Seal Press for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I saw the title, I knew I had to read this book, and it did not disappoint. I learned a ton of new information from this book, from the origins of the NFL to the the trope of the American cowboy. Oluo is so good at writing about tough, complicated topics in a way that is entertaining and easy to understand. I read this book on my Kindle and was highlighting up a storm because the author brings up so many excellent points. This will be the rare book that I buy a hard copy of so that I can re-read it. I know I will want to go back to sections of this book again and again.

Review posted on Goodreads on August 9, 2020.

Yes yes yes yes yes!! THIS book is what we need right now. I only wish it was being released before the November election. Oluo traces the history and resulting impact of white male dominance in America. This book acknowledges impact across the spectrums of identities - from white males to BIPOC to white women to non-gender conforming folx. Buy it, read it, share it.

This book. is (ahem) anything but mediocre. Oluo masterfully weaves in personal narrative, research, and cultural criticism to make this a truly excellent nonfiction book. Making nonfiction accessible is far from easy, and this writer excels at taking complicated, nuanced history and criticism and making it easy to understand and digest even if you don't have familiarity with the subject matter. I would recommend this book to literally everyone.

It’s likely impossible to write a comprehensive history of racism and sexism in 3,000 pages, much less 300. Rather than attempt to boil the whole ocean, Ijeoma Oluo focuses in on white male supremacy, mediocrity, and rage: Why are some white men so mad at everything, why do they blame it on women and minorities, and why are they so unwilling to acknowledge any unearned advantage whatsoever? The challenge with this topic is that racism and sexism are two of the key ingredients of that soup, so it can drift into feeling like an attempted history of two immensely complicated subjects, and come off as not being thorough enough in doing so.

Like “So You Want to Talk About Race”, this book covers a lot of different subjects under a central umbrella. Buffalo Bill, Teddy Roosevelt, the NFL, The Squad, Ellen Pao, the University of Missouri. You aren’t going to find many books covering all these things. One of the many smart choices Oluo made was to not just make this a book about Dylann Roof types, but show that white male rage and inadequacy is a widespread issue facing millions, not just a few Klan members and serial killers. And the internet has amplified these feelings, giving white male rage a place to gleefully threaten and troll people, giving them a missing sense of identity as “resisters”.

Are there other areas Oluo could have covered for this topic? Of course there are. And it’s unfortunate this book was finished before Covid and George Floyd, because there’s so much material there.

After finishing the book I felt like I enjoyed it, but left a little unfulfilled. If you read a lot of news articles or books about this subject, you might not feel like there’s a lot new here. If you don’t, this is a really great overview. I’m hovering somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but I’ll go 4 because I acknowledge the importance of the subject and the incredible difficulty of putting the perfect combination of stories together to cover it.

Note: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from Net Galley.