THE TIME NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERPowerful and timely ... I cannot recommend it strongly enough Barack ObamaBeyond race or class our lives are defined by a powerful unspoken system of divisions. In Caste Pulitzer Prizewinning author Isabel Wilkerson provides a profound eyeopening portrait of this hidden phenomenon. This is the story of how our world was shaped by caste and how its rigid arbitrary hierarchies still divide us today. Linking the caste systems of America India and Nazi Germany Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations including divine will bloodlines stigma and more. Using riveting stories about peopleincluding Martin Luther King Jr. baseballs Satchel Paige a single father and his toddler son Wilkerson herself and many othersshe shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their outcast of the Jews she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against she writes about the surprising health costs of caste in depression and life expectancy and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally she points forward to ways we can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions toward hope in our common humanity. Required reading for all of humanity Oprah WinfreyIf you havent read it yet you absolutely must. Edward Enninful VogueAn instant American classic Dwight Garner The New York Times