Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

Every single Americans (and that's including school kids) need to be required to read this book. There has never been a book that makes me understand America as a country in the clearest, most astounding and deepest way.

Brilliant examination of American culture and history, comparing our implied caste system (i.e. racism) with that of Nazi Germany and India. There were many aspects of this book that were eye opening and I was shocked to learn, like how much of a spectacle lynchings used to be with photographers planning in advance to make a profit selling souvenirs of the event to hundreds if not thousands of spectators, watching the live torture of African Americans.

I also learned more about famous African Americans, like Satchel Paige (I’m not a huge sports person) and Allison Davis. One interesting portion of the book talked about how in wolf hierarchy, even Omegas (the least privileged) are highly valued and have been chosen specifically to fill a role to protect the pack. It’s not based on appearance but rather ability, and if something happens to the Omega, they aren’t easily replaced. This is in stark contrast to the illogical caste systems otherwise discussed in the book.

I listened to this book as an audio book, but I would definitely purchase my own copy and use it as a reference, especially as a professional transportation planner. This provides really valuable insight into the subconscious underpinnings of American society.

Great read about how the caste system was established and why it presently exists in American today. It was also a great history lesson in many aspects.

Great read for our times and provides interesting insight about America's long existing racial problems.

To be honest, I didn’t find this book as powerful or as revelatory as [b:The Warmth of Other Suns|8171378|The Warmth of Other Suns the Epic Story of America's Great Migration|Isabel Wilkerson|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1433354252l/8171378._SY75_.jpg|13341052]. There’s a lot here, and she makes a fairly strong (if narrow) case for the concept she’s proposing. But there isn’t much that I hadn’t already seen before—it’s just packaged together in service of the admittedly novel argument that race forms the basis for a caste distinction in America. I wonder if she had to tread so much familiar ground in order to beat that path. Sadly, she probably did. But I wish she hadn’t, or I’d like to see a sequel, because I came away wanting a lot more than just the evidence of her being right. I want to see some engagement with the question of whether/why that distinction really matters, for example. In addition, she makes a number of passing references to other caste distinctions that she identifies—especially gender and age, for example—and I’d really like to see her expand on the ways that they interact/overlap/conflict with the marker of race in this regard.

Then too, the the final chapter and epilogue were disappointing; a facile solution tacked onto a book that was better without.

The book is a strong overview, and I don’t doubt that it’s been a very valuable introduction to these ideas for a lot of people. But truly, I came away wanting a lot more. Thinking of it via the “What? So what? Now what?” model, it’s a book that greatly overanswers the first question, to the detriment of the others. The book clearly demonstrates that the phenomenon of race-based caste exists in America, but doesn’t do enough beyond that.