Caste: The International Bestseller (Oprah's, Club)

by Isabel Wilkerson

4.8 of 5 stars 5 ratings • 1 review • 25 shelved
Book cover for Caste

Bookhype may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure.

THE TIME NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

'Required reading for all of humanity' Oprah Winfrey

'It could not have come at a more urgent time' Fatima Bhutto, Guardian

'An instant American classic' Dwight Garner, The New York Times

'The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power - which groups have it and which do not'


Beyond race or class, our lives are defined by a powerful, unspoken system of divisions. In Caste, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson gives an astounding portrait of this hidden phenomenon. Linking America, India and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson reveals how our world has been shaped by caste - and how its rigid, arbitrary hierarchies still divide us today.

With clear-sighted rigour, Wilkerson unearths the eight pillars that connect caste systems across civilizations, and demonstrates how our own era of intensifying conflict and upheaval has arisen as a consequence of caste. Weaving in stories of real people, she shows how its insidious undertow emerges every day; she documents its surprising health costs; and she explores its effects on culture and politics. Finally, Wilkerson points forward to the ways we can - and must - move beyond its artificial divisions, towards our common humanity.

Beautifully written and deeply original, Caste is an eye-opening examination of what lies beneath the surface of ordinary lives. No one can afford to ignore the moral clarity of its insights, or its urgent call for a freer, fairer world.

  • ISBN10 0241486513
  • ISBN13 9780241486511
  • Publish Date 4 August 2020
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
  • Imprint Allen Lane
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 496
  • Language English