Thorough, thought-provoking, challenging, well written, and bleak. This book is a series of essays published during the Obama presidency, each with a newly written introduction - these reflective and often personal introductions were some of the best and most moving elements of the book. Coates includes a lot of fascinating historical and social context in his analysis but offers no hope, a concept which he addresses directly. I found the final section on Trump's election particularly interesting and disturbing.