The Warmth of Other Suns
Isabel Wilkerson
Read in preparation for Wilkerson’s new book on caste, since I hadn’t read WOS when it originally came out. It’s a great book, although not quite what I was expecting–I didn’t realize how narratively focused it was going to be (“Caste” has been more what I had in mind so far). Certainly Wilkerson does touch on many broad and quantitative aspects of the Great Migration, but she tells the story with a journalist’s eye on the compelling individual story. All three of her protagonists are interesting, complex people, made all the more so when you realize how much time Wilkerson herself spent with all of them. (She touches on this some in the latter part of the book.)
I learned a lot from this book. My only complaint is that certain passages seemed to repeat material from earlier in the book. Perhaps this is just necessary in a 600+ page work!