'Caste: The Origins of our Discontents' by Isabel Wilkerson

 

Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson (3.5)

This book is very depressing. Filled with important information supporting the author’s points defining the racism in America as a caste system – but it was alarming to read the details of such atrocities as lynching and realize the extent to which they occurred long after you thought they had stopped. One of the most shocking chapters explained how the Nazis looked to the US to understand how to oppress a group of people believed inferior – and that they eventually thought we had gone too far! Nazis look to your country as ‘best practice’ of oppression, but decide you are a little crazy. That says a lot. I appreciated reading the multiple personal accounts Ms. Wilkerson included. It’s often too easy to say an author cherry- picked their stories to make their point. Her passages show she lives it every day. I did find some of the book repetitive and found myself skimming the middles sections. Much of the book was not surprising, but embarrassing (for our country) and sad.