Mediocre

From the author of the smash hit #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race, an "illuminating" (New York Times Book Review) history of white male identity in America What happens to a country that tells generations of white men that they deserve power? What happens when their identity is defined by status over women and people of color? Through the last 150 years of American history, Ijeoma Oluo exposes the devastating consequences of white male supremacy. She then envisions a new white male identity, one free from racism and sexism. Now with a new preface addressing the harrowing 2021 Capitol attack, Mediocre confronts our founding myths, in hopes that we will write better stories for future generations.

There was no Reichstag fire. No storming of the Bastille. No mutiny on the Aurora. Instead, the mediocre have seized power without firing a single shot. They rose to power on the tide of an economy where workers produce assembly-line meals without knowing how to cook at home, give customers instructions over the phone that they themselves don’t understand, or sell books and newspapers that they never read. Canadian intellectual juggernaut Alain Deneault has taken on all kinds of evildoers: mining companies, tax-dodgers, and corporate criminals. Now he takes on the most menacing threat of all: the mediocre.

A hilarious, candid account of what life in France is actually like, from a writer for Vanity Fair and GQ Americans love to love Paris. We buy books about how the French parent, why French women don't get fat, and how to be Parisian wherever you are. While our work hours increase every year, we think longingly of the six weeks of vacation the French enjoy, imagining them at the seaside in stripes with plates of fruits de mer. John von Sothen fell in love with Paris through the stories his mother told of her year spent there as a student. And then, after falling for and marrying a French waitress he met in New York, von Sothen moved to Paris. But fifteen years in, he's finally ready to admit his mother's Paris is mostly a fantasy. In this hilarious and delightful collection of essays, von Sothen walks us through real life in Paris--not only myth-busting our Parisian daydreams but also revealing the inimitable and too often invisible pleasures of family life abroad. Relentlessly funny and full of incisive observations, Monsieur Mediocre is ultimately a love letter to France--to its absurdities, its history, its ideals--but it's a very French love letter: frank, smoky, unsentimental. It is a clear-eyed ode to a beautiful, complex, contradictory country from someone who both eagerly and grudgingly calls it home.

In this hilarious satire of the prosperity and excellence industry, Stone examines how mediocrity affects all aspects of life. He offers a simple solution for those trying to overachieve.

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Ijeoma Oluo offers a revelatory examination of race in America Protests against racial injustice and white supremacy have galvanized millions around the world. The stakes for transformative conversations about race could not be higher. Still, the task ahead seems daunting, and it’s hard to know where to start. How do you tell your boss her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law hang up on you when you had questions about police reform? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend? In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race, and about how racism infects every aspect of American life. "Simply put: Ijeoma Oluo is a necessary voice and intellectual for these times, and any time, truth be told." ―Phoebe Robinson, New York Times bestselling author of You Can't Touch My Hair

It’s certainly easy to understand why mediocrity seems to be the new norm in our country. After all, take a look around. As you read this we find ourselves burdened with immense national debt, polarized political parties, sky high unemployment, and increasing levels of hunger, homelessness, and hopelessness. All while our discontent with leaders across all segments of society leaves us scratching our heads and searching our hearts to understand, “how did we end up here?” The more important question, of course, is where do we go from here? And, as importantly, what role will you play? This is where I have some good news to offer. Mediocre Me reminds us the solution to the current mess we're in is already present—“invisible” in plain sight. It’s not found in another government program nor can it be dictated merely by expert opinions. Rather, the answer to our individual and collective challenges is found in the inspiring example of those citizen-leaders in our midst who are hard at work trying to move things solidly forward in their spheres of influence. And, best of all, they are waiting for more of us to join them. Sound frightening? Challenging? Too difficult to pull off, you say? Think again.

A quirky read about a confused MBA waylaid by love and life Three years of college, and Abbey has no answer to the question 'what next?'. Luckily for him, fate, that chancy thing, lands him in an MBA course at a topnotch B-School, the Management Institute of Jamshedpur. At MIJ, Abbey finds his life turned upside down - what with professors like Haathi and Chatto, friends like Rascal Rusty and Pappu, and gorgeous girls like Ayesha and Keya. Will the two years at MIJ bag Abbey a job? Will this be where he finds love? Mediocre But Arrogant is the story of being young in India. It is about the roller coaster that is hostel life, bad grades, chai at the dhaba and, not least, being in love. Read on to know why MBA spells 'mediocre but arrogant'. 'Loaded with humour and narrated at a cracking pace'- The Week 'The authenticity of the dialogues, friends, incidents, phattas, attitudes are the book's heart'- Deccan Herald

How does the well-brought-up son of a Scottish immigrant and locally-born school teacher veer so decidedly from the path of a promising hockey career to choose a life of crime? Alexander Young tells us in his own words how he stays in game shape and is invited to sign with semi-pro teams in British Columbia and Alberta. But his optimum physical condition also enables him to climb onto roofs in the dark of night and drop silently onto the floors of corporate offices and retail outlets. Alex has wander-lust - or maybe he's on the move in order to keep the heat off. At first, he's driven by hockey. But later he's just driven. From the first time he hops a bus in his hometown of Drumheller until he's transported by the RCMP to various institutions, he plays hockey, breaks and enters, and commits armed robbery. Along the way he seduces beautiful women, never quite being able to settle down with any of them. Drinking and getting high on cocaine and heroin, Alex makes friends with criminals, both on the street and on the inside. He presents us with a glimpse of the culture that finally leads him to commit his most serious crime - murder.