Scan barcode
A review by leweylibrary
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
"A world without caste would set everyone free."
People have been recommending this book to me for ages--I've even included it on many book displays--and now I know why. This truly should be required reading in America along with Stamped from the Beginning. The term racism really doesn't go far enough to explain this country's ills, but the argument that Wilkerson lays out for caste does. I learned so much and feel like this book really filled a lot of the gaps in my knowledge. Wilkerson does such an amazing job explaining such difficult phenomena in an accessible way, and now I feel like I need to buy a physical copy so I can reread it and mark things I want to remember and come back to later. This is one of those books that you continue to think about long after you finish it.
I also have to say I LOVE how the whole way through the abuse of Black people in America is compared to Jews in the Holocaust. I can imagine so many people HATE that comparison and think it goes way too far, and that's precisely why I love it. It goes exactly far enough.
People have been recommending this book to me for ages--I've even included it on many book displays--and now I know why. This truly should be required reading in America along with Stamped from the Beginning. The term racism really doesn't go far enough to explain this country's ills, but the argument that Wilkerson lays out for caste does. I learned so much and feel like this book really filled a lot of the gaps in my knowledge. Wilkerson does such an amazing job explaining such difficult phenomena in an accessible way, and now I feel like I need to buy a physical copy so I can reread it and mark things I want to remember and come back to later. This is one of those books that you continue to think about long after you finish it.
I also have to say I LOVE how the whole way through the abuse of Black people in America is compared to Jews in the Holocaust. I can imagine so many people HATE that comparison and think it goes way too far, and that's precisely why I love it. It goes exactly far enough.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Genocide, and Antisemitism