Isabel Wilkerson

#BookReview #NonFiction
"Caste: The Origins of our Discontents" by Isabel Wilkerson

When my daughter asked me what book I was reading and I replied "Caste", her next question was "Is it by an Indian author?" We all have this idea that India alone grapples with caste-based problems, that the US and other countries primarily face racial or religious issues. This book convincingly proves that idea a delusion.

Let me borrow the introductory paragraph from an article published on "The Print" website on 23rd August 2020, the article that first introduced me to this book.

/quote/
Oprah Winfrey’s book clubs are legendary. So, when Oprah sent out a new book to 100 American CEOs and 400 leaders soon after the transformative #BlackLivesMatters protest and called it the most important book club selection ever, the world had to pay attention. And when that book mentions ‘India’ 136 times, it becomes mandatory reading for us. And yet Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American author Isabel Wilkerson, a book that The New York Times calls an ‘Instant American Classic’ is not stirring up Indian public debate or hitting our bookshelves.
/unquote/

When I read this article (https://theprint.in/opinion/oprah-winfrey-wilkerson-caste-100-us-ceos-indians-wont-talk-about-it/487143/), I knew that I had to get my hands on this book. And what a ride it has been!

Isabel Wilkerson deftly uncovers the many layers that caste masquerades under. Right in the first chapter, she declares, "Throughout human history, three caste systems have stood out. The tragically accelerated, chilling, and officially vanquished caste system of Nazi Germany. The lingering, millennia-long caste system of India. And the shape-shifting, unspoken, race-based caste pyramid in the United States."

Using her personal examples as well as historical publishings, Wilkerson builds up a firm case to support her hypothesis that America is a casteist nation. As she writes, "Most people don't look at America as having a caste system but it has all the hallmarks of one." She is scathing about the resurgence of the casteist ideas under the current president of the US. All those sections are a pleasure to read! Every argument is put up by sheer logic and not by any emotional parameters. Wilkerson has established a new benchmark in my mind for journalistic integrity in writing nonfiction.

While she focuses primarily on America for obvious reasons, she does cover the Indian system to a great extent. Historical statements on caste by Ambedkar, Manu and Jyotiba Phule, as well as contemporary insights by Yashica Dutt, Suraj Yengde and VT Rajshekhar, all find a mention in her research. I found it amazing to see how an outsider to our culture has so incisively figured out our complicated social hierarchy. A great part of me feels that she has done a better job of pinpointing our imbalanced framework because of her nonpartisan viewpoint. I now want to continue this journey of discovery by getting an insider perspective into Indian caste problems and will hence pick up "Caste Matters" by Suraj Yengde.

Wilkerson's handling of the topic of the Holocaust and Hitler's twisted idealogies that current Germans are doing their best to erase, deserves special mention.

This year, while I've read a great number of books, the quantity unfortunately hasn't been balanced with quality. Only a few books have stirred me enough while most have been underwhelming. This book is one of my best reads of 2020, if not the best. It isn't just an enlightening book, it must be made mandatory reading, and not just in America or India, in the entire world. Go for it without any doubt.

Leaving you with just a few of the many thought-provoking quotes from the book:

… (altro)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3832697658

Overall, the book retains much of what made it interesting and compelling on my first read of it around the time it came out. I think some sections of the book are less compelling on a re-read because of the way they are written - those parts of the book that blend narration and quotation with story retelling start to feel overdone.

Similarly, the organizing structure of the book does a lot of handholding — sometimes too much, and makes the reader feel like the author thinks they might be stupid. I’m not sure how much of this impression is because I am re-reading this after seeing the adaptation “Origin” which lifts so much of the text word-for-word for narration/voice-over. Possibly a lot.

Those two points aside, this remains a great contemporary text that is accessible and approachable for people.… (altro)

This is an amazing book. An important book. And, at times, extremely hard to take. Dissecting the similarities between Nazi Germany, the Jim Crow Era Southern United States, and the caste system of India, a common thread of human rankings emerges. And it is troubling, to say the least. Interspersed are the author's own experiences as a woman of color, demonstrating the continued prevalence of racism in modern times, as well as historical vignettes that stand as yet more reminders that no matter how much I learn, there are still new horrors to discover about life in my home country before the Civil Rights Movement. But the point of this book isn't to shame anyone. No one alive today was around during slavery. But as the author points out, when you have a house with structural issues, you don't stand around claiming that because you didn't cause the problems, you shouldn't have to address them. No, you fix the problems with the house, no matter how many generations ago the damage was done. Same with one's country.… (altro)