Caste : the lies that divide us / Isabel Wilkerson.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [443]-453) and
index.

The man in the crowd -- Toxins in the permafrost and heat
rising all around -- The arbitrary construction of human
divisions -- The eight pillars of caste -- The tentacles
of caste -- The consequences of caste -- Backlash --
Awakening -- Epilogue: A world without caste.

""As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless
usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the
aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a
performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings
or morality. It is about power--which groups have it and
which do not." In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson
gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in
America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply
researched narrative and stories about real people, how
America today and 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
powerful caste system that influences people's lives and
behavior and the nation's fate. Linking the caste systems
of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores
eight pillars that underlie caste systems across
civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma,
and more. Using riveting 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 insidious
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
cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung
for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she
writes about the surprising 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 artificial and
destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in
our common humanity. Beautifully written, original, and
revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye
-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination
of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of
America life today"--|cProvided by publisher.