Join our host David Hartmann and fellow Columbia alumni as the book club discusses Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson, a selection by book club member Beth Napleton.

“In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.” -Amazon.com

Date: Thursday, January 6, 2022

Time: 6:30 p.m. CST

Location: Zoom Video Conference

Cost: Free