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

by Isabel Wilkerson

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

Reviews

[Heather]

This book is very good and you should absolutely read it. The reason I didn't finish it was that in the very beginning she lays out her premise that the U.S's racial issues are actually a caste system. I could see the point of her argument. I agreed with her premise. But then the rest of the book was her attempting to prove her point. I was listening to it, nodding, and thinking, "Yes, I agree." After a while it because hours and hours of listening to the horrors inflicted on people throughout history up to now. I figured that I had already understood and agreed with the point. I didn't need to listen to the details of all the horrible things people did. I see enough of that with current events.