Caste

"The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power--which groups have it and which do not. In this book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through a . . . narrative and stories about real people, how America . . . throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a . . . caste system that influences people's lives and behavior and the nation's fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, [she] explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using . . . stories about people--including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball's Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others--she shows the ways that the . . . undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the . . . logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the . . . health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the . . . separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity"--Provided by the publisher.