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A review by jazzypizzaz
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
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.