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Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

February 15, 2024

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is a nonfiction book by the American journalist Isabel Wilkerson, published in August 2020 by Random House. The book describes racism in the United States as an aspect of a caste system—a society-wide system of social stratification characterized by notions such as hierarchy, inclusion and exclusion, and purity. Wilkerson does so by comparing aspects of the experience of American people of color to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany, and she explores the impact of caste on societies shaped by them, and their people.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Cover image, based on a photo by Bruce Davidson at Magnum Photos[1]
AuthorIsabel Wilkerson
Audio read byRobin Miles
Cover artistGreg Mollica (based on photo by Bruce Davidson)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherRandom House (US)
Allen Lane (UK)
Publication date
4 August 2020
Media type
  • Print
  • digital
  • audiobook
Pages496
Awards
ISBN978-0-593-23025-1
OCLC1147928120
305.5122
LC ClassHT725.U6
All identifiers refer to the hardcover edition unless otherwise noted

Caste, which followed Wilkerson's 2010 book The Warmth of Other Suns, was met with critical acclaim and commercial success. It won or was nominated for several awards, and was featured prominently on nonfiction bestsellers lists and year-end best-books lists.

Contents edit

Pillars of caste edit

In Caste, Wilkerson identifies eight "pillars of caste", or features of caste systems in various societies:[4]

  • Divine will: the belief that social stratification is beyond human control, either divinely ordained or a natural law, as in the biblical story of the curse of Ham that was used to justify Black inferiority in the U.S.
  • Heritability: the belief that social status is acquired at birth and immutable, as codified e.g. in the U.S. "one-drop rule" that determined Black ancestry
  • Endogamy: the prohibition of sex and marriage between castes, as in the former U.S. anti-miscegenation laws
  • Purity and pollution: the belief that the dominant caste is "pure" and must be protected against pollution by the inferior castes, as shown in the segregation of facilities for bathing, eating, education, etc. in the U.S. Jim Crow era
  • Occupational hierarchy: the reservation of the more desirable occupations for the superior castes, as enshrined in U.S. Jim Crow laws that restricted Black people to farm or domestic work
  • Dehumanization and stigma: the denial of individuality and human dignity of lower-caste individuals, as through the various arbitrary punishments and restrictions to which enslaved and free Black people were subject to in the U.S., down to racist carnival games.
  • Terror and cruelty: as means of enforcement of the caste system and control of lower-caste people, as through the whippings of slaves or the lynchings of Black people in the U.S.
  • Inherent superiority and inferiority of castes: the belief that people of one caste are inherently superior to those of other castes, expressed e.g. in restrictions on clothing or displays of status by lower-caste people (such as driving a car).

Wilkerson illustrates these pillars through examples from three caste systems: those of India, Nazi Germany and the United States.

Aspects and consequences of caste edit

She goes on to describe the "tentacles of caste": the various ways in which a caste system society permeates the workings of a society infected by it. These include the anxious efforts of upper-caste people to retain their superior social status even while their economic status crumbles (hence the "necessity of a bottom rung", or the perceived need to prevent lower-caste success), unconscious biases embedded in a society's culture that perpetuate the caste system, or the function of lower-caste people as scapegoats.[5] In her view, the caste framework also helps explain the participation of lower-caste people (Jewish kapos, Black police officers) in the oppression of their fellow caste members: caste systems self-perpetuate by rewarding those lower-caste people who comply with the system, thereby keeping the lower castes divided.[6]

Wilkerson continues by describing the "consequences of caste", which degrade people of all castes. Among them are the "narcissism of caste", which makes culture revolve around and idealize the dominant caste, or the Stockholm syndrome that serves as a survival mechanism for lower-caste people but helps keep them captive, or the physiological stress experienced by lower-caste people that reduces their life expectancy.[7] She addresses the mechanisms of backlash against attempts to transcend the caste system, as exemplified by the first lower-caste U.S. president being succeeded by one intent on reinforcing the system, and the importance of the "symbols of caste", such as swastikas or Confederate flags, to the perpetuation of the system.[8] She concludes that societies in the grip of a caste system pay a harsh price for it: the distrust between castes translates into brutal criminal justice systems, and minimal or dysfunctional public health or social welfare systems – and as a result, a reduction in welfare for all but the most affluent, compared to other societies. In Wilkerson's view, the comparatively poor performance of the U.S. in the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the high rate at which it impacts lower-caste Americans, are one example of such effects.[9]

Finally, Wilkerson asks whether a "world without caste [that] would set everyone free" can exist. She concludes that it is possible – as in the dismantlement of Nazism after World War II – but that it requires both the bravery of individuals and an enormous effort of collective will especially by the dominant caste, given how deeply caste systems, like a chronic disease, are embedded in and shape societies.[10]

Race and caste edit

Wilkerson argues that the social constructs of race and caste are not synonyms, but that they "can and do coexist in the same culture and serve to reinforce each other. Race, in the United States, is the visible agent of the unseen force of caste. Caste is the bones, race the skin."[11]

Film adaptation edit

In October 2020, Netflix announced that it would produce a film adaptation of the book to be titled Origin and directed by Ava DuVernay.[12] The film, starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga and Niecy Nash-Betts, had its world premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 6, 2023[13] and a theatrical release in the U.S. in January 2024.

Reception edit

According to the review aggregator Book Marks and its parent organization, Literary Hub, the book has received critical acclaim.[14][15] Having analyzed 35 reviews of the book using their four-tier rating system, categorizing 21 as "rave", 4 as "positive", 9 as "mixed", and 1 as "pan", Literary Hub named it number one of "The Best Reviewed Nonfiction of 2020".[15] The only negative ("pan") review recorded by the site came from Tunku Varadarajan[16] writing for The Wall Street Journal.[17] The book received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly,[18] The Library Journal,[19] Kirkus,[20] and Booklist,[21] and was also reviewed by Kwame Anthony Appiah,[22] Dwight Garner,[11] Gillian Tett,[23] Fatima Bhutto,[24] Kenneth W. Mack,[25] Sunil Khilnani,[26] Gaiutra Bahadur,[27] Emily Bernard,[28] Lauren Michele Jackson,[29] Carlo Wolff,[30] Colin Grant,[31] Mihir Bose,[32] Matthew Syed,[33] and Yashica Dutt,[34] among others.

Kwame Anthony Appiah, for the cover story of The New York Times Book Review in August 2020, wrote that the book is "elegant and persuasive" and that it "is at once beautifully written and painful to read."[22] Dwight Garner, in The New York Times, described Caste as "an instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far."[11] Publishers Weekly called Caste a "powerful and extraordinarily timely social history" in its starred review of the book.[18] The Chicago Tribune wrote that Caste was "among the year's best" books, while The Washington Post called the epilogue "a prayer for a country in pain, offering new directions through prophetic language".[35][36]

Tunku Varadarajan gave the book a mixed review, writing that Wilkerson "never offers a convincing argument for why American history and society are better examined through the lens of caste than of race" and "scarcely acknowledges that modern America has made vast strides to address racism."[16] Time magazine called the book a "transformative new framework through which to understand identity and injustice in America."[37] The New York Journal of Books commended Wilkerson's body of work, writing, "Caste draws heavily on the powerful mingling of narrative, research, and visionary, sweeping insight that made Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns the definitive contemporary study of African Americans' twentieth-century Great Migration from the Jim Crow South to northern, midwestern, and western cities. It deepens the resonance of that book (a seemingly impossible feat) by digging more explicitly into the pervasive racial hierarchy that transcends region and time."[38]

Oprah Winfrey, after choosing the book for her 2020 Summer/Fall book club selection, said: "Of all the books I've chosen for book club over the decades, there isn't another that is more essential a read than this one."[39] The book was also listed as one of Barack Obama's favorite books of 2020.[40]

Awards and honors edit

Caste's honors include the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award for History & Biography[2],the AudioFile Earphones Award for the audiobook edition in 2020.[3], the Carl Sandburg Literary Award[41] and the New York University Axinn Foundation Prize.[42] The book was a finalist for the 2020 Kirkus Prize[43], the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award,[44] and the 2021 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction.[45] Caste was longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award for Nonfiction,[46] the 2021 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award,[47] and the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction[48].In December 2020, Literary Hub analyzed 41 year-end best-books lists and reported that the book was among the most recommended of the year, making fifteen of the analyzed lists.[49] The lists include Time, who placed Caste at the top of its list of the 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020, calling it an "electrifying work that reframes injustice and inequity in the U.S."[50]

Year Award Category Result Ref(s)
2020 Goodreads Choice Award History & Biography Won [2]
AudioFile Earphones Awards Won [3]

National Book Award

Nonfiction Nominated (longlist) [46]
Kirkus Prize Nonfiction Nominated (finalist) [43]
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Current Interest Won [51]
2021 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award N/A Nominated (longlist) [47]
PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award Nonfiction Nominated (finalist) [45]

Release details edit

The book became a number one New York Times nonfiction best-seller in early November 2020[52] and, as of the September 26, 2021, issue, had spent 58 weeks on The Times nonfiction best sellers list.[53] It is also a USA Today Best Seller, having debuted on August 13, 2020, the book peaked at number three and has spent 21 weeks on the list as of January 5, 2021.[54] According to Publishers Weekly, the book had sold over half a million copies by the close of 2020.[55]

  • Hardcover: Wilkerson, Isabel (4 August 2020). Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-593-23025-1. OCLC 1147928120. (496 pp.)
  • Digital: Wilkerson, Isabel (4 August 2020). Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-593-23026-8. OCLC 1147928120. (496 pp.)
  • Audiobook (CD): Wilkerson, Isabel (18 August 2020), Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Miles, Robin, New York: Random House Audio, ISBN 978-0-593-39669-8, OCLC 1176245188 (870 minutes)
  • Audiobook (MP3): Wilkerson, Isabel (4 August 2020), Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Miles, Robin, New York: Random House Audio, ISBN 978-0-593-33980-0, OCLC 1182631574 (867 minutes)
  • Paperback: Caste: the origins of our discontents. Random House trade paperback. 14 February 2023. ISBN 9780593230275. OCLC 1369859133.

The book is published in the UK under the title Caste: The Lies That Divide Us.[56]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "The 13 Best Book Covers of August". Literary Hub. 2020-08-28. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  2. ^ a b c Williams, Sydney (8 December 2020). "Goodreads Choice Awards 2020: Best 20 books this year". NBC News. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  3. ^ a b c "Caste by Isabel Wilkerson Read by Robin Miles | Audiobook Review". AudioFile. August 2020. ISSN 1063-0244. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  4. ^ Caste, pp. 99–164
  5. ^ Caste, pp. 171 et seq.
  6. ^ Caste, pp. 238 et seq.
  7. ^ Caste, pp. 263 et seq.
  8. ^ Caste, pp. 311 et seq.
  9. ^ Caste, pp. 353 et seq.
  10. ^ Caste, pp. 361 et seq.
  11. ^ a b c Garner, Dwight (July 31, 2020). "Isabel Wilkerson's 'Caste' Is an 'Instant American Classic' About Our Abiding Sin". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  12. ^ Jackson, Angelique (14 October 2020). "Ava DuVernay to Write, Direct and Produce 'Caste' Film Adaptation at Netflix". Variety. ISSN 0042-2738. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
  13. ^ Patten, Dominic. ""Ava DuVernay Talks 'Origin', Neon Sale, Some Venice History & Global Appeal of Justice". Deadline. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  14. ^ "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents". Book Marks. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  15. ^ a b "The Best Reviewed Nonfiction of 2020". Literary Hub. 2020-12-16. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  16. ^ a b Varadarajan, Tunku (August 28, 2020). "'Caste' Review: The High Cost of Feeling Superior". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660.
  17. ^ "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents". Book Marks. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  18. ^ a b "Nonfiction book review: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents". Publishers Weekly. ISSN 0000-0019.
  19. ^ Sendaula, Stephanie (August 2020). "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents". Library Journal. ISSN 0363-0277. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  20. ^ "Caste". Kirkus Reviews. 15 June 2020. ISSN 1948-7428.
  21. ^ Bush, Vanessa (July 2020). "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by By Isabel Wilkerson". Booklist. ISSN 0006-7385.
  22. ^ a b Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2020-08-04). "What Do America's Racial Problems Have in Common With India and Nazi Germany?". The New York Times Book Review. ISSN 0028-7806. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  23. ^ Tett, Gillian (30 July 2020). "Why we need to talk about caste in America". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  24. ^ Bhutto, Fatima (2020-07-30). "Caste by Isabel Wilkerson review – a dark study of violence and power". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  25. ^ Mack, Kenneth W. (31 July 2020). "Running deeper than race: America's caste system". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  26. ^ Khilnani, Sunil (7 August 2020). "Isabel Wilkerson's World-Historical Theory of Race and Caste". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  27. ^ Bahadur, Gaiutra (2020-11-25). "Is America Trapped in a Caste System?". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  28. ^ Bernard, Emily (2020-08-04). ""Caste" Is a Trailblazing, Must-Read Book on the Birth of Inequality". O, The Oprah Magazine. ISSN 1531-3247. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  29. ^ Jackson, Lauren Michele (2020-08-03). "Caste Offers a New Word for Injustice in America, Not a New Way of Thinking". Vulture. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  30. ^ Wolff, Carlo (5 November 2020). "Journalist's dissection of caste systems shines light on racial dynamics in the U.S." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. ISSN 1068-624X. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  31. ^ Grant, Colin (30 October 2020). "Caste: The lies that divide us by Isabel Wilkerson book review". Times Literary Supplement. ISSN 0307-661X. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  32. ^ Bose, Mihir (17 October 2020). "Caste: The Lies that Divide Us by Isabel Wilkerson: heartrending but too simplistic". The Irish Times. ISSN 0791-5144. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  33. ^ Syed, Matthew (9 August 2020). "Caste by Isabel Wilkerson review — a country divided by race". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  34. ^ Dutt, Yashica (17 September 2020). "Feeling Like an Outcast". Foreign Policy. ISSN 0015-7228. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  35. ^ Borrelli, Christopher (August 3, 2020). "Isabel Wilkerson's 'Caste' is about the strict lines that keep us apart — lines that are more than race or class". Chicago Tribune. ISSN 1085-6706.
  36. ^ Qureshi, Bilal. "Isabel Wilkerson knows that effective discussions about race require new language. That's where 'Caste' comes in". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  37. ^ Worland, Justin (23 July 2020). "''Racism' Did Not Seem Sufficient.' Author Isabel Wilkerson on the American Caste System". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  38. ^ Nathans-Kelly, Steve (August 2020). "a book review by Steve Nathans-Kelly: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents". New York Journal of Books. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  39. ^ Haber, Leigh (2020-08-05). "Oprah Is Sending 500 Copies of Her New Book Club Pick to CEOs and Leaders". O, The Oprah Magazine. ISSN 1531-3247. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  40. ^ Simret, Aklilu (18 December 2020). "Barack Obama lists his favorite books of 2020". CNN. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  41. ^ "Isabel Wilkerson, Nate Marshall Receive 2020 Chicago Public Library Foundation Awards".
  42. ^ "Isabel Wilkerson Receives Inaugural NYU/Axinn Foundation Prize".
  43. ^ a b "Raven Leilani's debut novel 'Luster' wins $50,000 Kirkus prize". USA Today. 6 November 2020. ISSN 0734-7456. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  44. ^ "2020".
  45. ^ a b "Announcing the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists". 10 February 2021.
  46. ^ a b "National Book Awards 2020". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  47. ^ a b "Announcing the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards Longlists". PEN America. 2020-12-22. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  48. ^ "2021 Winners". 18 October 2020.
  49. ^ Temple, Emily (2020-12-15). "The Ultimate Best Books of 2020 List". Literary Hub. from the original on 2020-12-15. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  50. ^ "The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
  51. ^ Pineda, Dorany (2021-04-17). "Winners of the 2020 L.A. Times Book Prizes announced". Los Angeles Times. from the original on 2021-04-17. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  52. ^ "Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction - Best Sellers". The New York Times Book Review. November 1, 2020. ISSN 0028-7806. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  53. ^ "The New York Times Best Seller List. Fiction" (PDF). Hewes. September 26, 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  54. ^ "Caste". USA Today. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  55. ^ "Hardcover Frontlist Nonfiction". Publishers Weekly. 4 January 2021. ISSN 0000-0019. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  56. ^ Ghadiali, Ashish (2020-08-31). "Caste: The Lies That Divide Us by Isabel Wilkerson - review". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2023-10-26.

External links edit

  • Author's website
  • Publisher's website
  • Presentation by Wilkerson on Caste, August 14, 2020, C-SPAN
  • Q&A interview with Wilkerson on Caste, October 11, 2020, C-SPAN

February 15, 2024
caste, origins, discontents, nonfiction, book, american, journalist, isabel, wilkerson, published, august, 2020, random, house, book, describes, racism, united, states, aspect, caste, system, society, wide, system, social, stratification, characterized, notion. Caste The Origins of Our Discontents is a nonfiction book by the American journalist Isabel Wilkerson published in August 2020 by Random House The book describes racism in the United States as an aspect of a caste system a society wide system of social stratification characterized by notions such as hierarchy inclusion and exclusion and purity Wilkerson does so by comparing aspects of the experience of American people of color to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany and she explores the impact of caste on societies shaped by them and their people Caste The Origins of Our DiscontentsCover image based on a photo by Bruce Davidson at Magnum Photos 1 AuthorIsabel WilkersonAudio read byRobin MilesCover artistGreg Mollica based on photo by Bruce Davidson CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishPublisherRandom House US Allen Lane UK Publication date4 August 2020Media typePrintdigitalaudiobookPages496AwardsGoodreads Choice Award for History amp Biography 2020 2 AudioFile Earphones Award 2020 3 ISBN978 0 593 23025 1OCLC1147928120Dewey Decimal305 5122LC ClassHT725 U6All identifiers refer to the hardcover edition unless otherwise notedCaste which followed Wilkerson s 2010 book The Warmth of Other Suns was met with critical acclaim and commercial success It won or was nominated for several awards and was featured prominently on nonfiction bestsellers lists and year end best books lists Contents 1 Contents 1 1 Pillars of caste 1 2 Aspects and consequences of caste 1 3 Race and caste 2 Film adaptation 3 Reception 4 Awards and honors 5 Release details 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksContents editPillars of caste edit In Caste Wilkerson identifies eight pillars of caste or features of caste systems in various societies 4 Divine will the belief that social stratification is beyond human control either divinely ordained or a natural law as in the biblical story of the curse of Ham that was used to justify Black inferiority in the U S Heritability the belief that social status is acquired at birth and immutable as codified e g in the U S one drop rule that determined Black ancestry Endogamy the prohibition of sex and marriage between castes as in the former U S anti miscegenation laws Purity and pollution the belief that the dominant caste is pure and must be protected against pollution by the inferior castes as shown in the segregation of facilities for bathing eating education etc in the U S Jim Crow era Occupational hierarchy the reservation of the more desirable occupations for the superior castes as enshrined in U S Jim Crow laws that restricted Black people to farm or domestic work Dehumanization and stigma the denial of individuality and human dignity of lower caste individuals as through the various arbitrary punishments and restrictions to which enslaved and free Black people were subject to in the U S down to racist carnival games Terror and cruelty as means of enforcement of the caste system and control of lower caste people as through the whippings of slaves or the lynchings of Black people in the U S Inherent superiority and inferiority of castes the belief that people of one caste are inherently superior to those of other castes expressed e g in restrictions on clothing or displays of status by lower caste people such as driving a car Wilkerson illustrates these pillars through examples from three caste systems those of India Nazi Germany and the United States Aspects and consequences of caste edit She goes on to describe the tentacles of caste the various ways in which a caste system society permeates the workings of a society infected by it These include the anxious efforts of upper caste people to retain their superior social status even while their economic status crumbles hence the necessity of a bottom rung or the perceived need to prevent lower caste success unconscious biases embedded in a society s culture that perpetuate the caste system or the function of lower caste people as scapegoats 5 In her view the caste framework also helps explain the participation of lower caste people Jewish kapos Black police officers in the oppression of their fellow caste members caste systems self perpetuate by rewarding those lower caste people who comply with the system thereby keeping the lower castes divided 6 Wilkerson continues by describing the consequences of caste which degrade people of all castes Among them are the narcissism of caste which makes culture revolve around and idealize the dominant caste or the Stockholm syndrome that serves as a survival mechanism for lower caste people but helps keep them captive or the physiological stress experienced by lower caste people that reduces their life expectancy 7 She addresses the mechanisms of backlash against attempts to transcend the caste system as exemplified by the first lower caste U S president being succeeded by one intent on reinforcing the system and the importance of the symbols of caste such as swastikas or Confederate flags to the perpetuation of the system 8 She concludes that societies in the grip of a caste system pay a harsh price for it the distrust between castes translates into brutal criminal justice systems and minimal or dysfunctional public health or social welfare systems and as a result a reduction in welfare for all but the most affluent compared to other societies In Wilkerson s view the comparatively poor performance of the U S in the containment of the COVID 19 pandemic and the high rate at which it impacts lower caste Americans are one example of such effects 9 Finally Wilkerson asks whether a world without caste that would set everyone free can exist She concludes that it is possible as in the dismantlement of Nazism after World War II but that it requires both the bravery of individuals and an enormous effort of collective will especially by the dominant caste given how deeply caste systems like a chronic disease are embedded in and shape societies 10 Race and caste edit Wilkerson argues that the social constructs of race and caste are not synonyms but that they can and do coexist in the same culture and serve to reinforce each other Race in the United States is the visible agent of the unseen force of caste Caste is the bones race the skin 11 Film adaptation editIn October 2020 Netflix announced that it would produce a film adaptation of the book to be titled Origin and directed by Ava DuVernay 12 The film starring Aunjanue Ellis Taylor Jon Bernthal Vera Farmiga and Niecy Nash Betts had its world premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 6 2023 13 and a theatrical release in the U S in January 2024 Reception editAccording to the review aggregator Book Marks and its parent organization Literary Hub the book has received critical acclaim 14 15 Having analyzed 35 reviews of the book using their four tier rating system categorizing 21 as rave 4 as positive 9 as mixed and 1 as pan Literary Hub named it number one of The Best Reviewed Nonfiction of 2020 15 The only negative pan review recorded by the site came from Tunku Varadarajan 16 writing for The Wall Street Journal 17 The book received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly 18 The Library Journal 19 Kirkus 20 and Booklist 21 and was also reviewed by Kwame Anthony Appiah 22 Dwight Garner 11 Gillian Tett 23 Fatima Bhutto 24 Kenneth W Mack 25 Sunil Khilnani 26 Gaiutra Bahadur 27 Emily Bernard 28 Lauren Michele Jackson 29 Carlo Wolff 30 Colin Grant 31 Mihir Bose 32 Matthew Syed 33 and Yashica Dutt 34 among others Kwame Anthony Appiah for the cover story of The New York Times Book Review in August 2020 wrote that the book is elegant and persuasive and that it is at once beautifully written and painful to read 22 Dwight Garner in The New York Times described Caste as an instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far 11 Publishers Weekly called Caste a powerful and extraordinarily timely social history in its starred review of the book 18 The Chicago Tribune wrote that Caste was among the year s best books while The Washington Post called the epilogue a prayer for a country in pain offering new directions through prophetic language 35 36 Tunku Varadarajan gave the book a mixed review writing that Wilkerson never offers a convincing argument for why American history and society are better examined through the lens of caste than of race and scarcely acknowledges that modern America has made vast strides to address racism 16 Time magazine called the book a transformative new framework through which to understand identity and injustice in America 37 The New York Journal of Books commended Wilkerson s body of work writing Caste draws heavily on the powerful mingling of narrative research and visionary sweeping insight that made Wilkerson s The Warmth of Other Suns the definitive contemporary study of African Americans twentieth century Great Migration from the Jim Crow South to northern midwestern and western cities It deepens the resonance of that book a seemingly impossible feat by digging more explicitly into the pervasive racial hierarchy that transcends region and time 38 Oprah Winfrey after choosing the book for her 2020 Summer Fall book club selection said Of all the books I ve chosen for book club over the decades there isn t another that is more essential a read than this one 39 The book was also listed as one of Barack Obama s favorite books of 2020 40 Awards and honors editCaste s honors include the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award for History amp Biography 2 the AudioFile Earphones Award for the audiobook edition in 2020 3 the Carl Sandburg Literary Award 41 and the New York University Axinn Foundation Prize 42 The book was a finalist for the 2020 Kirkus Prize 43 the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award 44 and the 2021 PEN John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction 45 Caste was longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award for Nonfiction 46 the 2021 PEN Jean Stein Book Award 47 and the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 48 In December 2020 Literary Hub analyzed 41 year end best books lists and reported that the book was among the most recommended of the year making fifteen of the analyzed lists 49 The lists include Time who placed Caste at the top of its list of the 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 calling it an electrifying work that reframes injustice and inequity in the U S 50 Year Award Category Result Ref s 2020 Goodreads Choice Award History amp Biography Won 2 AudioFile Earphones Awards Won 3 National Book Award Nonfiction Nominated longlist 46 Kirkus Prize Nonfiction Nominated finalist 43 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Current Interest Won 51 2021 PEN Jean Stein Book Award N A Nominated longlist 47 PEN John Kenneth Galbraith Award Nonfiction Nominated finalist 45 Release details editThe book became a number one New York Times nonfiction best seller in early November 2020 52 and as of the September 26 2021 issue had spent 58 weeks on The Times nonfiction best sellers list 53 It is also a USA Today Best Seller having debuted on August 13 2020 the book peaked at number three and has spent 21 weeks on the list as of January 5 2021 54 According to Publishers Weekly the book had sold over half a million copies by the close of 2020 55 Hardcover Wilkerson Isabel 4 August 2020 Caste The Origins of Our Discontents New York Random House ISBN 978 0 593 23025 1 OCLC 1147928120 496 pp Digital Wilkerson Isabel 4 August 2020 Caste The Origins of Our Discontents New York Random House ISBN 978 0 593 23026 8 OCLC 1147928120 496 pp Audiobook CD Wilkerson Isabel 18 August 2020 Caste The Origins of Our Discontents Miles Robin New York Random House Audio ISBN 978 0 593 39669 8 OCLC 1176245188 870 minutes Audiobook MP3 Wilkerson Isabel 4 August 2020 Caste The Origins of Our Discontents Miles Robin New York Random House Audio ISBN 978 0 593 33980 0 OCLC 1182631574 867 minutes Paperback Caste the origins of our discontents Random House trade paperback 14 February 2023 ISBN 9780593230275 OCLC 1369859133 The book is published in the UK under the title Caste The Lies That Divide Us 56 See also edit nbsp books portalCaste discrimination in the United States The New York Times Non Fiction Best Sellers of 2020 The Color of LawReferences edit The 13 Best Book Covers of August Literary Hub 2020 08 28 Retrieved 2021 01 04 a b c Williams Sydney 8 December 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards 2020 Best 20 books this year NBC News Retrieved 2021 01 04 a b c Caste by Isabel Wilkerson Read by Robin Miles Audiobook Review AudioFile August 2020 ISSN 1063 0244 Retrieved 2021 01 04 Caste pp 99 164 Caste pp 171 et seq Caste pp 238 et seq Caste pp 263 et seq Caste pp 311 et seq Caste pp 353 et seq Caste pp 361 et seq a b c Garner Dwight July 31 2020 Isabel Wilkerson s Caste Is an Instant American Classic About Our Abiding Sin The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Jackson Angelique 14 October 2020 Ava DuVernay to Write Direct and Produce Caste Film Adaptation at Netflix Variety ISSN 0042 2738 Retrieved 2020 10 14 Patten Dominic Ava DuVernay Talks Origin Neon Sale Some Venice History amp Global Appeal of Justice Deadline Retrieved 6 September 2023 Caste The Origins of Our Discontents Book Marks Retrieved 2021 01 04 a b The Best Reviewed Nonfiction of 2020 Literary Hub 2020 12 16 Retrieved 2021 01 05 a b Varadarajan Tunku August 28 2020 Caste Review The High Cost of Feeling Superior The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Caste The Origins of Our Discontents Book Marks Retrieved 2021 01 04 a b Nonfiction book review Caste The Origins of Our Discontents Publishers Weekly ISSN 0000 0019 Sendaula Stephanie August 2020 Caste The Origins of Our Discontents Library Journal ISSN 0363 0277 Retrieved 2021 01 04 Caste Kirkus Reviews 15 June 2020 ISSN 1948 7428 Bush Vanessa July 2020 Caste The Origins of Our Discontents by By Isabel Wilkerson Booklist ISSN 0006 7385 a b Appiah Kwame Anthony 2020 08 04 What Do America s Racial Problems Have in Common With India and Nazi Germany The New York Times Book Review ISSN 0028 7806 Retrieved 2021 01 04 Tett Gillian 30 July 2020 Why we need to talk about caste in America Financial Times ISSN 0307 1766 Retrieved 2021 01 04 Bhutto Fatima 2020 07 30 Caste by Isabel Wilkerson review a dark study of violence and power The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 2021 01 04 Mack Kenneth W 31 July 2020 Running deeper than race America s caste system The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Retrieved 4 January 2021 Khilnani Sunil 7 August 2020 Isabel Wilkerson s World Historical Theory of Race and Caste The New Yorker ISSN 0028 792X Retrieved 2021 01 04 Bahadur Gaiutra 2020 11 25 Is America Trapped in a Caste System The New Republic ISSN 0028 6583 Retrieved 2021 01 04 Bernard Emily 2020 08 04 Caste Is a Trailblazing Must Read Book on the Birth of Inequality O The Oprah Magazine ISSN 1531 3247 Retrieved 2021 01 04 Jackson Lauren Michele 2020 08 03 Caste Offers a New Word for Injustice in America Not a New Way of Thinking Vulture Retrieved 2021 01 04 Wolff Carlo 5 November 2020 Journalist s dissection of caste systems shines light on racial dynamics in the U S Pittsburgh Post Gazette ISSN 1068 624X Retrieved 2021 01 04 Grant Colin 30 October 2020 Caste The lies that divide us by Isabel Wilkerson book review Times Literary Supplement ISSN 0307 661X Retrieved 2021 01 04 Bose Mihir 17 October 2020 Caste The Lies that Divide Us by Isabel Wilkerson heartrending but too simplistic The Irish Times ISSN 0791 5144 Retrieved 2021 01 04 Syed Matthew 9 August 2020 Caste by Isabel Wilkerson review a country divided by race The Sunday Times ISSN 0140 0460 Retrieved 2021 01 04 Dutt Yashica 17 September 2020 Feeling Like an Outcast Foreign Policy ISSN 0015 7228 Retrieved 2021 01 04 Borrelli Christopher August 3 2020 Isabel Wilkerson s Caste is about the strict lines that keep us apart lines that are more than race or class Chicago Tribune ISSN 1085 6706 Qureshi Bilal Isabel Wilkerson knows that effective discussions about race require new language That s where Caste comes in The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Retrieved 2020 11 17 Worland Justin 23 July 2020 Racism Did Not Seem Sufficient Author Isabel Wilkerson on the American Caste System Time ISSN 0040 781X Retrieved 2020 11 18 Nathans Kelly Steve August 2020 a book review by Steve Nathans Kelly Caste The Origins of Our Discontents New York Journal of Books Retrieved 2020 11 18 Haber Leigh 2020 08 05 Oprah Is Sending 500 Copies of Her New Book Club Pick to CEOs and Leaders O The Oprah Magazine ISSN 1531 3247 Retrieved 2021 01 05 Simret Aklilu 18 December 2020 Barack Obama lists his favorite books of 2020 CNN Retrieved 2021 01 05 Isabel Wilkerson Nate Marshall Receive 2020 Chicago Public Library Foundation Awards Isabel Wilkerson Receives Inaugural NYU Axinn Foundation Prize a b Raven Leilani s debut novel Luster wins 50 000 Kirkus prize USA Today 6 November 2020 ISSN 0734 7456 Retrieved 2021 01 04 2020 a b Announcing the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists 10 February 2021 a b National Book Awards 2020 National Book Foundation Retrieved 2020 11 18 a b Announcing the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards Longlists PEN America 2020 12 22 Retrieved 2021 01 05 2021 Winners 18 October 2020 Temple Emily 2020 12 15 The Ultimate Best Books of 2020 List Literary Hub Archived from the original on 2020 12 15 Retrieved 2021 01 04 The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 Time ISSN 0040 781X Retrieved 2020 11 23 Pineda Dorany 2021 04 17 Winners of the 2020 L A Times Book Prizes announced Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on 2021 04 17 Retrieved 2021 04 17 Combined Print amp E Book Nonfiction Best Sellers The New York Times Book Review November 1 2020 ISSN 0028 7806 Retrieved 5 January 2021 The New York Times Best Seller List Fiction PDF Hewes September 26 2021 Retrieved 26 March 2023 Caste USA Today Retrieved 2021 01 05 Hardcover Frontlist Nonfiction Publishers Weekly 4 January 2021 ISSN 0000 0019 Retrieved 2021 01 05 Ghadiali Ashish 2020 08 31 Caste The Lies That Divide Us by Isabel Wilkerson review The Observer ISSN 0029 7712 Retrieved 2023 10 26 External links editAuthor s website Publisher s website Presentation by Wilkerson on Caste August 14 2020 C SPAN Q amp A interview with Wilkerson on Caste October 11 2020 C SPAN Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Caste The Origins of Our Discontents amp oldid 1203426548, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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