Jeannette McIntosh

I loved Isabel Wilkerson’s previous book. Caste does not grip me the same way. Though the stories and perceptions she has to tell, are enlightening and important to share, her one-sidedness on the caste/race issue troubles me. When she says that the Blacks are the only people who have been enslaved for endless time due to their race, she completely ignores the fact that millions of American Indians were also enslaved, and that even their children’s children were later enslaved and kept enslaved, not because whites did not recognize that what they were doing was wrong, but because whites could not imagine letting them go free. Other than her obvious bias in this conversation, I was perturbed she repeats her premises, along with the thoughts that supports that premise, continuously throughout the book. I do give her 3 stars for her thorough investigation to the caste/race issue, at least as it pertains to the Blacks, and for bringing such an important topic to the forefront.