A transformative portrait of our fractured and racially unequal societies, from one of America’s most celebrated storytellers
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 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.
Review: If you haven’t read Caste yet, you absolutely must — Edward Enninful * Vogue *
Powerful and timely… I cannot recommend it strongly enough — Barack Obama
Such is Wilkerson’s gift as a writer that she leaves you looking at the world differently — Afua Hirsch * Vogue *
Elegant and persuasive… Caste will spur readers to think and to feel in equal measure — Kwame Anthony Appiah * New York Times Book Review *
Probably the most important piece of non-fiction published this year — Sarah Hughes * i News *
A surprising and arresting wide-angle reframing… Her epilogue feels like a prayer for a country in pain, offering new directions through prophetic new language — Bilal Qureshi * Washington Post *
An expansive interrogation of racism, institutionalised inequality and injustice… This is an American reckoning and so it should be… It is a painfully resonant book and could not have come at a more urgent time — Fatima Bhutto * Guardian *
Format: Paperback
Pages: 496
Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication date: 24/02/2022
