Book 2 Post 1

For my second book, I have chosen to read Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. Wilkerson is a writer who is well known for her work in the New York Times, which she has received a Pulitzer Prize for. I chose to read Caste because I thought it was interesting how this book touches on past and current events. For example, she goes all the way back to the arrival of the first enslaved people in 1619 all the way up to the current Covid-19 pandemic. After reading the summary for this book, I was instantly intrigued. I was aware that there was a Caste System in India, but I was surprised to learn that the author believes that America has one has well. In this book, she links the caste system of America, India, and Nazi Germany. 

 

I have only read the first two chapters, but they have been interesting so far. In the first chapter, she talks about the 2016 election and the white supremacist violence that took place afterwards. She gave a few heavy examples such as a man breaking into a Black church to murder its worshippers. The author uses a metaphor and calls America an “old house” as she believes it has deep structural flaws. She argues that this American house has an “unseen skeleton” that she calls a caste system. In addition, she introduces the three caste systems that have existed in history which are: Nazi Germany, India’s caste system, and race-based caste pyramid in the United States. The first two chapters have been intense, but eye-opening at the same time. I am looking forward to reading more of this book.