{"id":53802,"date":"2021-10-31T10:44:07","date_gmt":"2021-10-31T14:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=53802"},"modified":"2021-11-14T13:57:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-14T17:57:35","slug":"caste-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/caste-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Caste: Book Review, Context, and Background"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Are you looking for a book review of <em>Caste <\/em>by Isabel Wilkerson? Does the book deserve all of the hype it received upon its release?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isabel Wilkerson&#8217;s book <em>Caste <\/em>was an almost instant bestseller, making it onto Oprah and Barack Obama&#8217;s suggested reading lists. It was generally well-received, however, it did receive some criticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This <em>Caste<\/em> book review cover&#8217;s the book&#8217;s background, context, and critical reception by the readers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About the Author<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Isabel Wilkerson is an American journalist who previously served as Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times. In 1994, she became <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pulitzer.org\/winners\/isabel-wilkerson\">the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for journalism<\/a>; later, then-President Barack Obama awarded her the <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.howard.edu\/content\/president-obama-award-2015-national-humanities-medal-howard-alumnus-isabel-wilkerson\">2015 National Humanities Medal<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wilkerson has taught journalism and narrative nonfiction at Harvard, Princeton, Emory, Northwestern, and Boston University. Since publishing <em>Caste <\/em>in 2020, she\u2019s also become an in-demand speaker. She was the keynote speaker at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychiatry.org\/psychiatrists\/meetings\/annual-meeting\/blog\/hear-from-isabel-wilkerson-at-the-2021-apa-annual-meeting\">the 2021 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/news.uchicago.edu\/story\/pulitzer-winner-isabel-wilkerson-speak-uchicagos-mlk-commemoration\">the University of Chicago\u2019s 31st annual commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/a> Wilkerson has also conducted video interviews with notable figures such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AgK06LXCHmg\">Barack Obama<\/a>, filmmaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=D_-CCB-Tzzw\">Ken Burns<\/a>, and author <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oybvQAKUjC8\">Jacqueline Woodson<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Connect with Isabel Wilkerson:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isabelwilkerson.com\/\">Website<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/isabelwilkerson\/\">Instagram<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/isabelwilkerson\">Twitter<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Book\u2019s Publication<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Publisher: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/653196\/caste-oprahs-book-club-by-isabel-wilkerson\/\">Penguin Random House<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Caste <\/em>was published in August 2020. It is Wilkerson\u2019s second book, published exactly 10 years after her first book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/190696\/the-warmth-of-other-suns-by-isabel-wilkerson\/9780679763888\/\"><em>The Warmth of Other Suns<\/em><\/a>, which chronicled the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North during the 20th century. <em>The Warmth of Other Suns<\/em> was a New York Times bestseller and won six literary awards. Wilkerson\u2019s research for <em>The Warmth of Other Suns<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/caste-isabel-wilkerson-book-review.html\">inspired her to write <em>Caste<\/em><\/a><em>.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Historical Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Caste<\/em> was published in 2020, at the end of a summer characterized by nationwide protests of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/shooting-of-terence-crutcher\/\">police brutality<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-institutional-racism\/\">systemic racism<\/a> in response to the murder of George Floyd. The book was also published during the Covid-19 pandemic, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covid-data\/investigations-discovery\/hospitalization-death-by-race-ethnicity.html\">disproportionately affected Black and Latinx communities<\/a>. Wilkerson references the pandemic late in the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Intellectual Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Caste<\/em> follows in the footsteps of other popular books on race and racism in the United States. These books often serve a particular purpose: Some are practical guides to talking about racism (such as Ibram X. Kendi\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/how-to-be-an-antiracist\"><em>How to Be an Antiracist<\/em><\/a> and Ijeoma Oluo\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/so-you-want-to-talk-about-race\"><em>So You Want to Talk About Race<\/em><\/a>) while others offer an explanation for why racism is such a widespread problem in the first place (like Jennifer Eberhardt\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/biased\"><em>Biased<\/em><\/a> and Robin DiAngelo\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/white-fragility\"><em>White Fragility<\/em><\/a>). <em>Caste<\/em> falls into the second category.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wilkerson\u2019s thesis is that caste\u2014<em>not <\/em>race\u2014is the primary factor that defines race relations in America. This sets <em>Caste<\/em> apart from other books in the genre, which focus on <em>race<\/em> as the primary factor underlying racism. However, many of these books focus on <em>systemic <\/em>racism (the racial prejudice inherent in institutions like government, finance, and popular culture) rather than interpersonal racism (the racially prejudiced beliefs or behavior of individual people). The definition of systemic racism is very similar to Wilkerson\u2019s definition of caste; as a result, <em>Caste <\/em>uses different language to address many of the same issues as other popular books on race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Book\u2019s Impact<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Upon its release, <em>Caste <\/em>became an instant bestseller, particularly after being selected for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oprah.com\/oprahsbookclub\/oprahs-new-book-club-pick-caste-by-isabel-wilkerson_2\">Oprah\u2019s Book Club<\/a>. Oprah\u2019s continued support (including <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/oprahs-book-club\/id1529009628\">an entire podcast series dedicated to the book<\/a>) helped turn <em>Caste <\/em>into a household name among readers: By 2021, the book had more than 30,000 reviews on Amazon. Barack Obama also listed <em>Caste <\/em>as one of his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CI6Hwx7g9AK\/?utm_medium=copy_link\">\u201cFavorite Books of 2020.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In October 2020, Netflix announced that <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2020\/10\/ava-duvernay-netflix-isabel-wilkerson-caste-1234597262\/\">a film adaptation of <em>Caste <\/em>is in development<\/a>. The film will be written and directed by Ava DuVernay, who previously directed \u201c13th,\u201d a critically-acclaimed documentary about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/end-systemic-racism-2\/\">systemic racism in America<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Critical Reception<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>According to book review aggregator Book Marks, <a href=\"https:\/\/bookmarks.reviews\/the-best-reviewed-books-of-2020-nonfiction\/\"><em>Caste <\/em>is the number one best-reviewed nonfiction book of 2020.<\/a> One New York Times reviewer, Dwight Garner, called it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/31\/books\/review-caste-isabel-wilkerson-origins-of-our-discontents.html\">\u201cthe keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far\u201d<\/a> because Wilkerson uses her journalistic skills to weave historical facts, sociological analysis, and powerful emotional appeals into one cohesive account. Other reviewers praised Wilkerson\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/08\/10\/900274938\/caste-argues-its-most-violent-manifestation-is-in-treatment-of-black-americans\">poetic use of imagery and metaphor<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Caste <\/em>book reviews were split in their evaluation of Wilkerson\u2019s focus on caste rather than race. Garner argues that using the concept of caste to reframe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/conversations-about-race\/\">conversations about race<\/a> in America helps readers see the issue with fresh eyes, and that \u201cthe reader does not have to follow her all the way on this point to find her book a fascinating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-thought-experiments\/\">thought experiment<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, some social scientists who study race and journalists who are familiar with caste systems were critical of the emphasis on caste over race. For example, one Wall Street Journal reviewer argued that Wilkerson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/caste-review-the-high-cost-of-feeling-superior-11598623029\">doesn\u2019t successfully make the case that race and caste are two different things<\/a> in America. Another reviewer argued that the comparisons between the caste systems in the United States, India, and Nazi Germany <a href=\"http:\/\/bostonreview.net\/race\/charisse-burden-stelly-caste-does-not-explain-race\">are more superficial than Wilkerson admits<\/a>. The same reviewer also highlights the fact that Wilkerson doesn\u2019t address the economic underpinnings of racism (for example, the fact that slavery was the engine of American <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/capitalism-theory\/\">capitalism<\/a>).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Commentary on the Book\u2019s Approach<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Wilkerson\u2019s journalism background is on display in <em>Caste<\/em>. While she provides plenty of data to back up her points, her focus is on telling the <em>story<\/em> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/american-caste-system\/\">American caste system<\/a> and how it impacts everyone in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/social-hierarchy-meaning\/\">social hierarchy<\/a>. For this reason, <em>Caste <\/em>is punctuated with stories of real people\u2019s experience with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/caste-society\/\">caste system<\/a>, including many anecdotes from Wilkerson\u2019s own experience as a Black woman. These stories make the book engaging and accessible; however, for the sake of brevity, we\u2019ve eliminated their details and focused instead on the general principles they illustrate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you looking for a book review of Caste by Isabel Wilkerson? Does the book deserve all of the hype it received upon its release? Isabel Wilkerson&#8217;s book Caste was an almost instant bestseller, making it onto Oprah and Barack Obama&#8217;s suggested reading lists. It was generally well-received, however, it did receive some criticism. This Caste book review cover&#8217;s the book&#8217;s background, context, and critical reception by the readers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":53839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,458,24],"tags":[193],"class_list":["post-53802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-review","category-society","tag-caste","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Caste: Book Review, Context, and Background - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson worth all of the hype? 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