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Talking Volumes
Kerri Miller

Talking Volumes: A conversation with Isabel Wilkerson

Screenshot of two women speaking over video call.
MPR News host Kerri Miller (left) speaks with author Isabel Wilkerson about her new narrative “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent.”
MPR News screenshot

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Kerri Miller hosts a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson about her new book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.”

From the publisher:

Pulitzer Prize-winner Isabel Wilkerson, the acclaimed bestselling author of “The Warmth of Other Suns,” reveals how America has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings and divisions, in her deeply researched and immersive new narrative “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent.”

Drawing parallels between the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson outlines a revolutionary framework for understanding how caste plays out across civilizations, both historically and today. Backed by years of research, she identifies eight ideological pillars that underlie all caste systems. Using riveting stories from the lives of Martin Luther King Jr., baseball's Satchel Paige, an ordinary single father and his toddler son, and many others, Wilkerson shows how the insidious undertow of caste is experienced by each of us every day.

You can watch the conversation between MPR News host Kerri Miller and Wilkerson here or listen to it using the audio player above.


Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Editor’s note (May 24, 2021): A previous version of this post failed to note copy provided by the publisher. The post has been updated.