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Overview
Published in 2020 to critical acclaim, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is the second book by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson
. Caste argues that the United States is built on a race-based caste system with a pervasively negative impact that goes beyond racial discrimination. (Wilkerson defines caste as a fixed hierarchical structure that assigns inferior or superior value to people based on arbitrary inborn traits. Race, in contrast, is a collection of physical characteristics.) In comparing the U.S. caste structure to India’s millennia-old caste system and the short-lived, destructive caste stratification of Nazi Germany, Wilkerson presents a case for recontextualizing America’s racial hierarchy as one of history’s most prominent caste systems. Caste combines historical and sociological analysis with diverse personal anecdotes to argue that caste is the true culprit behind many issues typically attributed to race in the United States, as well as a plethora of other seemingly unrelated societal ills.Caste was an Oprah Book Club selection and a number one New York Times nonfction bestseller. A special YA version of the book was published in 2022. The 2023 film Origin is partly based on Caste. Directed by Ava DuVernay and starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Isabel Wilkerson, the film deftly blends elements of Wilkerson’s life story with key messages derived from her nonfiction book.
Explore the full book summary & analysis, a discussion of the main ideas, and explanations of important quotes from Caste.
