This review in The Atlantic—Coates's previous employer—devolves into exactly the kind of obsession with "complexity" that Coates is critiquing. People used to call slavery and then segregation "complicated." It's often a term of obfuscation. www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

The Problem With Moral Purity

In his new book, "The Message," Ta-Nehisi Coates sacrifices necessary complexity.