miguelb's review against another edition
5.0
This book. Goodness. Certainly, I'd never heard or read a more comprehensive description of the Great Migration, but it's the depth of the research that got to me. Wilkerson needs the reader to understand why millions of Black men, women and children would flee the Jim Crow South, to find solace in places that just weren't that welcoming and sometimes outright hostile. So she conducted over a thousand of interviews and paints a picture of the horrific world of the South, using images so vivid I literally had nightmares. The black kid who was tortured and drowned by adults for sending a white girl in his class a Christmas card? Oh... and they made his father watch? And there was literally no authority to appeal to for justice? Yeah, that's now seared into my brain.
Read this book. It's important. It's beautifully written. It won't be pleasant.
Read this book. It's important. It's beautifully written. It won't be pleasant.
jazzypizzaz's review against another edition
5.0
By happenstance, I read the first part of the book, which discussed journeys out of the South to the North and West, while I was traveling from Atlanta to California. I then read the middle part where they confront the realities of navigating a foreign new world while away from home. The last part I read on the return journey, about the same time in the book they were returning "home" to visit family/friends in the South, in old age reflection if not literally, and considering how their choice to migrate affected their lives.
Make no mistake, the similarities between my cushy trip and what the people in this book (in real life) went through ends there of course -- which served to underline to me the incredible combination of bravery, optimism, desperation, strength, necessity, and sheer gumption that led millions of African Americans to take a chance on upending their entire world for the hope of a better life during the Great Migration. This book did an incredible job illustrating the difficulty of their initial decision to leave, the unforeseen challenges that faced them when they arrived, the complexity of their relationship to the land they left behind.
If you want a nonfiction book with grounded historical research ranging from broad analytical overview to the intimate portrayal of firsthand accounts, that will keep you hooked throughout and invested in people's lives, that solidly cements itself as one of the great American stories, that is so very human in nature and nuance -- this is it.
Make no mistake, the similarities between my cushy trip and what the people in this book (in real life) went through ends there of course -- which served to underline to me the incredible combination of bravery, optimism, desperation, strength, necessity, and sheer gumption that led millions of African Americans to take a chance on upending their entire world for the hope of a better life during the Great Migration. This book did an incredible job illustrating the difficulty of their initial decision to leave, the unforeseen challenges that faced them when they arrived, the complexity of their relationship to the land they left behind.
If you want a nonfiction book with grounded historical research ranging from broad analytical overview to the intimate portrayal of firsthand accounts, that will keep you hooked throughout and invested in people's lives, that solidly cements itself as one of the great American stories, that is so very human in nature and nuance -- this is it.
peggy24's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Fabulous, well-written, and well-researched book. Leaves you with much to think about afterwards.
mariagarnett's review against another edition
5.0
"In the end, it could be said that the common denominator for leaving was the desire to be free, like the Declaration of Independence said, free to try out for most any job they pleased, play checkers with whomever they chose, sit where they wished on the streetcar, watch their children walk across a stage for the degree most of them didn't have the chance to get. They left to pursue some version of happiness, whether they achieved it or not. It was a seemingly simple thing that the majority of Americans could take for granted but that the migrants and their forbears never had a right to in the world they had fled."
536.
536.
elentikvah's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
While I do not recall exactly how this book was recommended to me, it has been on my TBR list for some time - I wish I had not taken so long to read it. It also happens to be my choice for the Discomfort Zone Book Club September genre - Social Justice.
This book, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, is one of four life-changing books for me - the others are in the order I've read them - The Lost World of Genesis 1: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John H Walton, Deconverted: A Journey from Religion to Reason by Seth Andrews, and An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.
What I really love about this book, is that it is well-written for the lay-historian, making it easily readable. I also really love how the stories of the three individuals that highlight this migration are interjected to bring the historical facts to life - very well done!
As a born-n-bred WASP Texan, this book was hard to read. It broke my heart - the black folks that underwent this migration are of the age of my grandparents, and even my parents - sitting with this fact hurt. I am only separated from this trauma by random selection of my genetics that gives me the privilege of less melanin in a culture that has divided its people over the color line for centuries.
This is a MUST READ.
Rating 5/5 stars "it was amazing"
22 hrs and 40 mins
Audiobook
This book, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, is one of four life-changing books for me - the others are in the order I've read them - The Lost World of Genesis 1: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John H Walton, Deconverted: A Journey from Religion to Reason by Seth Andrews, and An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.
What I really love about this book, is that it is well-written for the lay-historian, making it easily readable. I also really love how the stories of the three individuals that highlight this migration are interjected to bring the historical facts to life - very well done!
As a born-n-bred WASP Texan, this book was hard to read. It broke my heart - the black folks that underwent this migration are of the age of my grandparents, and even my parents - sitting with this fact hurt. I am only separated from this trauma by random selection of my genetics that gives me the privilege of less melanin in a culture that has divided its people over the color line for centuries.
This is a MUST READ.
Rating 5/5 stars "it was amazing"
22 hrs and 40 mins
Audiobook
rajaraks's review against another edition
4.0
This was a lengthy, heavy read but I really glad that I chose it. I was generally ignorant of the Great Migration, just understanding/remembering broad notes from high school long ago. Wilkerson shows the plight and courage of the Black people that fought their way to a better life through 3 points of view, all derived from personal interviews and research. I'm in awe of her meticulous efforts and how she weaved it all together. I definitely haven't learned enough about the Black American experience but this was a incredible step into understanding more.