Coates follows up his National Book Award-winning Between the World and Me with essays that sweep through the Obama era. Included are annotated versions of much-discussed pieces he wrote for the Atlantic, including "Fear of a Black President"; two new essays that reassess the Obama era and consider what's to come; and a think piece based on Coates's interviews with President Obama during his final year in office.

In his second book, Coates (correspondent for the Atlantic; author of Between the World and Me [a 2016 LJ Best Book]) gathers eight formerly published essays, one for each year of Barack Obama's presidency, together with framing commentary and reflection. The author's growing prominence as a writer and public intellectual coincided with (and, Coates argues, was made possible by) the Obama era. Thus, this volume documents both the personal growth of Coates as a thinker and also our national struggle to reckon with the politics of race and racism. Readers of the author's work will find familiar friends in this collection: essays on Bill Cosby, Michelle Obama, the Civil War, Malcolm X, Barack Obama, reparations, the carceral state, and Donald Trump. The contextualizing matter—part autobiography, part political commentary—pulls back between each piece to consider how the author's thinking has evolved since. Admirers of Coates will appreciate this fresh perspective on his process; new readers will find much to reflect on. As always, Coates's narratives are densely woven conversations with the work of historians and other chroniclers of black experience in the United States. VERDICT A timely collection that challenges us to take an honest accounting of our collective past.—Anna J. Clutterbuck-Cook, Massachusetts Historical Soc.