Isabel Wilkerson's Reading List

"It's a book that got overshadowed upon publication and still warrants more recognition for its groundbreaking view into life as it was in the feudal South."

"Two of the most gorgeous examples that come to mind for me are Toni Morrison's Jazz and Rita Dove's Thomas and Beulah, both of which elevate the ordinary to the sublime."

"W. E. B. DuBois's Black Reconstruction is vital to understanding the reinvigoration of caste after the end of the Civil War."

"W. E. B. DuBois's Black Reconstruction is vital to understanding the reinvigoration of caste after the end of the Civil War, as is Eric Foner's Reconstruction."

"Medical Apartheid, by Harriet A. Washington, for stunning insights into how caste has played out in the history of health care in our country."

"The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, and Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson, for overwhelming evidence of caste in our criminal justice system."

"Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson, for overwhelming evidence of caste in our criminal justice system."

"The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein for an analysis of how caste has undergirded our country's housing policies."

"I find myself drawn to classic, often underappreciated, novels of the 1930s and 1940s, to works like The Street, by Ann Petry, who is deservedly experiencing a renaissance."

"If He Hollers, Let Him Go, by Chester Himes, who deserves his own renaissance."

"Black No More, by George S. Schuyler. The latter is a clever and biting satire in which Schuyler imagines the social disruption of an invention that can make Black people look like white people in a matter of days."

"Blindness, by José Saramago, one of my favorites in the world. From the moment I first read it years ago while on a trip to Portugal, I have loved it for its unsentimentally pure and raw comprehension of human nature."

"If forced to name a single one, it would have to be Baldwin's The Fire Next Time. He captured our present before it had even happened."

"It was the first I had heard of Dollard or seen the word 'caste' applied to America. It felt both dissonant and intriguingly appropriate."