具體描述
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.
“An instant American classic.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times
“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 American life today.
用戶評價
##比較瞭美國、印度、德國的“Caste”，用“Caste”來分析美國的racism，有很多具體的殘酷的例子和作者的親身經曆，"The issue of caste was, to my mind, the basis of every other -ism" (171).這是她這本書有意思的地方之一，“the issue of Caste”指的是那八個pillars，也指人們先是divide然後rank (assign values to different position)的思維方式。如果critical一點來說，我覺得她太樂觀瞭，而對有兩個例子（教授和奧巴馬）的分析似乎仍然含有作為知識分子的優越感，在想要廢除一種ranking的同時又維護另一種ranking
評分##扣一星的缺點：試圖僞裝成社會學書，但不是，這是一本帶有強烈個人情感和控訴的美國黑人民族史（不是指這樣寫不好，但總還是不太真誠）。有很多具體事例是可以引起強烈通感的。現在美國在明麵上很少有明目張膽的種族歧視（盡管川任內有迴潮），但很多極消磨人精力的隱性歧視讓黑人始終活在提心吊膽的高壓中，比如作者穿著一身職業裙裝齣差依然被緝毒警察在機場大巴上攔截和尾隨受盡其他乘客側目，讓她在接下來的工作中無法保持平靜。這些心情非黑人群體根本無法切身體會。黑人在美國種姓製度的位置之低也引發瞭一種社會現象：白人移民來到美國後會迅速美國化，而其他中産黑人移民會刻意保留自己的非洲/中美洲口音並強調自己的移民身份，以示自己與美國黑人的區分。
評分##People around the world known CASTE IS TALKING ABOUT AFRICA and has nothing to do with America (RACISM related instead). The weirdest thing is she compared US with Nazi….and I am so confused what is she want to talk about. Cuz she is writing a book making no sense and filling of her point of views.
評分##後半本書框架稀碎，分析也偏superficial，可能這種議題還是看正兒八經的社會學傢寫的會好一些吧
評分##Africa has no black people.
評分##裏麵提到的實例單拿齣來哪個都不陌生，但角度是新的，值得一讀。
評分##前四分之一把概念講的比較清楚，後半部開始結構垮掉瞭，例子也多是互相重復，囉哩囉嗦的，完全沒有耐心看完。
評分##筆力是真好，但是也真的毫無邏輯架構和內容深度，完全就是一整本African American受苦受罪事實堆砌史。 還以為能看到一些為什麼當代美國社會如此分裂的深度解讀，但是完全沒有。光是史實和事件堆砌我不需要花這麼多時間看這本啊，沒有分析和想法的輸齣也太偷懶瞭吧…
評分##Another masterpiece by an amazing journalist (based in Chicago) lol. Definitely one of the best books of the year and defining books of the era. A must read for anyone who wants to understand America.
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