The club’s first selection is Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.
The book describes racism in the United States as an aspect of a caste system – a society-wide system of social stratification characterized by notions such as hierarchy, inclusion and exclusion, and purity. Wilkerson compares aspects of the experience of American people of color to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany, and she explores the impact of caste on societies shaped by them, and their people.
This summer, we will announce a second book title with events and discussions in fall 2021.