Caste cover art

Caste

The Origins of Our Discontents

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Caste

By: Isabel Wilkerson
Narrated by: Robin Miles
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

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 civilisations 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.

©2020 Isabel Wilkerson (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Politics & Government Racism & Discrimination Social Classes & Economic Disparity Social Sciences Sociology Discrimination Thought-Provoking Social justice

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All stars
Most relevant  
This might be the best book I've read in a while. It's nearly impossible to discuss racism in America nowadays but she gives us new language to express concepts you have always known but have never been able to express. The narration is also extremely easy to listen to. I can't recommend it enough.

Best book I've read on the topic

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I felt myself frequently visualising her first hand encounters.
As as an 80's UK comprehensive school educated person thus an auto didactic soul I find this a well due and ideal supplement to my learning.

Shapeshift' 'Radical Empathy'. Literacy and Light!

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I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. I thought Caste was all about complexion; this book has opened my eyes to how our ‘Caste’ has impacted our privilege and experience. It can be challenging to listen and explain our lives depending on whether we’re from the dominant or the subordinate caste. I like the comparison across other countries and cultures. Recommended reading.

A transformational book

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A smart fresh perspective on an ancient problem. Research impeccable. Narration was excellent. Can’t recommend highly enough.

Fantastic

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This is an essential read. At times I gasped for air to absorb the extent to the systematic dehumanization of African American people. And, yet as the moral scaffolding of our nation chips away, the book shines a light at how factors interact to create the social conditions in which the souls of those who strive for superiority degrade to an unthinkable pit of the human condition. This book will make you reflect on how your interactions, verbal and nonverbal, speak to who you are and aspire for the world to be.

Enlightening read about why we are where we are.

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Brings together the Holocaust, racial segregation in the US and the caste system in India. Eye opening and informative. Author's personal experiences of prejudice (both verbal and physical) uncomfortable but honest. Highly recommended listen

Uncomfortable but brilliant

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The time flies by with such an insightful and powerful book. Wilkerson’s word are both personal and widely relevant. This book is a fascinating introduction to caste as a complex and structural concept. I will come back to this again and again.

Brilliantly written, brilliantly read

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Being of Indian origin I am only too aware of Caste and the pernicious nature thereof. It was revelatory to have caste applied to the American condition. I was engrossed from beginning to end. Be prepared to be put through a gamut of emotions, ranging from aching sadness to visceral rage at the treatment of our African American brothers and sisters at the hands of the dominant caste (white people). Such treatment spans slavery, Jim Crow through to the present day. I sincerely hope that this book is made required reading in schools, colleges and Universities in the US. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. A masterpiece. Thank you Isabel Wilkerson for your tour de force. In Solidarity.

Brilliant book that should be required reading

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One of the absolutely most important and thought-provoking books of the decade. Astonishing breadth and depth.

A world without caste?

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This book is extremely well written and very informative with good stories which really illustrate the points made. Would be helpful to be on all school reading lists.

Great book

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