Publisher's Synopsis
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK - "An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far."-Dwight Garner, The New York Times
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. #1 Book of the Year in Nonfiction: Time's One of the Year's Best Books: O: The Boston Globe, Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post The Oprah Magazine, NPR, Bloomberg, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Post, The New York Public Library, Fortune, Smithsonian Magazine, Marie Claire, Slate, Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews. Winner of the Carl Sandberg Literary Award. Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. National Book Award Longlist. National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist. Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist. PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. PEN/Jean Stein Book Award The caste hierarchy is not based on morality or feelings. It all comes down to which groups hold power and which do not. Through an immersive, meticulously researched, beautifully written narrative and stories about real people, Isabel Wilkerson explores, in this brilliant book, how a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human ranks, has shaped America today and throughout its history. She paints a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America. Past race, class, or different elements, there is a strong position framework that impacts individuals' lives and conduct and the country's destiny. Wilkerson examines eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more, connecting the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany. She demonstrates the pervasive effects of caste on everyday life through gripping narratives about individuals like Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball player Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others. She describes how the Nazis planned to exterminate Jews by studying American racial systems; She explains why the cruel logic of caste requires that those in the middle measure themselves against a lower rung; She discusses the surprising health effects of caste, including depression and decreased life expectancy, as well as the impact of this hierarchy on our political and cultural life. Last but not least, she suggests ways in which the United States can move beyond the artificial and destructive divisions of human divisions and toward hope in our shared humanity. Unique and uncovering, Position: The Starting points of Our Discontents is an educational story of individuals and history, and a reconsideration of what lies underneath customary lives and of American life today.
