Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Caste: The Lies That Divide Us by Isabel Wilkerson

20 reviews

micaelamariem's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

 found this book to be very educational, motivational, and eye-opening. It was interesting, though brutal, to learn the full scale of the history of caste in america and how awful we can be as humans. I think everyone could benefit from reading this. However, though I agree with Wilkerson on everything including the politics of today, I can see how it might polarize people to where they’d miss the point she’s trying to make. I also think the cohesiveness of the narrative could have been better. Still, overall a great read of a dark history and startling present! 

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annamay1021's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25


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viporras's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

5.0


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victoriarose12's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


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lizsurber's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

5.0


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wanderlustsleeping's review against another edition

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Surprisingly, I DNFed this title after getting 42% through it.

At first I was intrigued by the notion and usage of caste and the comparison to India, the Nazi Regime, and the history of slavery and African-Americans in the U.S. but at almost half way through I had just had enough. For any person even slightly educated or familiar with these harrowing matters, nothing new is being said, and I just kept having to listen about the pain and horrifying events done to so many people, with a huge emphasis on my black ancestors. It hurt for me to listen to these stories. I was sticking with it for educational purposes, but switching out “black” and “white” for caste-coded pseudonyms, wasn’t enough to teach me anything new, it was just me having to hear these horrifying stories all over again.

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morethanmylupus's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

5.0

This was such a difficult but important book. My family is from India and people talk to me about caste like it's a purely Indian thing that gives them the right to scorn my culture. I'm in no way in favor of caste, but it's always been hard for me to articulate that this isn't a structure that's only relevant to Indians. This book really drove home the point that America not only has a caste system but it's been integrated into so many systems throughout our history that persist today. This should be required reading for everyone.

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tanyafrey's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative slow-paced

5.0


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atamano's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.75


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sydapel's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced
While I don't know that I completely agree with the fundamental hypothesis of this book (for may reasons, some of which I can articulate and some I can't), Wilkerson's ability to combine storytelling and and commentary on systematic racism in this country is done incredibly well. I do wish more time was spent on detailing the complexities of the Indian caste system, but that's a personal thing I don't think it detracts from the power this book has. (read as Part of SFCM's anti racism book club)

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