We Were Eight Years in Power powerfully examines the events of the Obama era from an intimate and revealing perspective: the point of view of a young writer who begins his journey in an unemployment office in Harlem and ends it in the Oval office, interviewing a president. The story of these eight years reaches far beyond presidential politics. Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the tragic echoes of 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.” It is the story of the new voices, ideas and movements that emerged over this period – and the effects of the president, haunting shadow of America’s old and unreconciled history of slavery and white supremacy. Seamlessly combining history, memoir, argument and reportage, the book is vital, eloquent and impassioned account of modern America.