Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

Isabel Wilkerson

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Summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NEW YORK TIMES READERS PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK

“An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions—now with a new Afterword by the author.

Awards:

• #1 NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time
• ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, O: The Oprah Magazine, NPR, Bloomberg, The Christian Science Monitor, New York Post, The New York Public Library, Fortune, Smithsonian Magazine, Marie Claire, Slate, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews
• Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
• National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
• Winner of the Carl Sandburg Literary Award
• Dayton Literary Prize Finalist
• PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction Finalist
• PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Finalist
• Kirkus Prize Finalist.

Key Themes: As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.

Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Isabel Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more.

Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.

Posts about this title from Bookish AfroLatina's Library

• Gabby • Feb 20 2025

Vibes I Bring To The Function 💅

• I couldn't fit everything 😅

ID: TEXT- vibes I bring to the function. A collage on a pink and purple background: Jeanine from Abbott Elementary smiles, my torti cat sits in a heart, a stack of books, Gregory from Abbott stares wide-eyed next to a couple of tacos, some ice cream, and orange tabby cat sits in a heart. A Tropical Rebel gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera, I Got Abducted by Aliens And Now I'm Stuck In A Rom-Com, tostones, Gabby sits in a purple shirt, The Deep by Rivers Solomon, coffee, arroz con gandules, a Puerto Rican flag, Caste by Isabelle Wilkerson, Dr. Stone poster, Janet and Michael in The Good Place and Janet says, "Fun Fact: Christopher Columbus is in the Bad Place," Dominican flag, Dawn by Octavia E. Butler, Mrs. Lovett from Sweeny Todd.

#Bookstagram #vibes

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