Caste: A Brief History of Racism, Sexism, Classism, Ageism, Homophobia, Religious Intolerance, Xenophobia, and Reasons for Hope

by University Press

University Press returns with another short and captivating book – a brief history of caste, bias, and discrimination.

We have inherited a world full of humans who have been healed and hurt by other humans. There was a time, in an age before this one, when ignorance was forgivable. But that time has passed. Now is not the time for the enlightened to sneer at the brutes. Sneering hurts people. And hurt people hurt people. No. Now is the time for healing. And healing begins with introspection and a recognition of our own caste, our own biases, and our own discrimination. And introspection begins with a glimpse of the past.

This short book peels back the veil and provides a brief glimpse into the history of seven virulent and persistent human biases – a glimpse that you can read in about an hour.

Genres: Nonfiction

57 pages, Paperback

Published July 4, 2020

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

How could anyone not know this?

You would have to live in a cabin in the mountains to not realize these things. Kinda mad at the friends who said this is essential reading.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too short. Too few examples. Too little discussion of'what to do about it'.

[Eric Hein · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read like a mediocre high school student paper

I got absolutely nothing of value or interest out of reading this. Don't waste your time or money on it.

[Cecily Winter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short treatise paints with a broad brush lightly applied the various forms of prejudice existing worldwide from ancient times to the current decade (including racism, classism, ageism, homophobia, religious intolerance, xenophobia, and sexism). These are ongoing problems in our culture(s) that I hope will be excised as soon as possible, but most of us with a decent sense of history are familiar with every major point that the author/algorithm makes in this essay.

The perfect reader is someone, say a high school or college student, unfamiliar with the range of social castes operating in the world and in need of a quick, clear overview.

This is not a scholarly essay: there are grammatical errors and plodding sentences. In addition, there are no sources cited, few details, and no footnotes or endnotes. This is an essay of generalities that attempts to convey way too much history with too few specifics and too little material. Its best function is that of an introductory text to social inequality.

[Audrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

An important problem which deserved better scholarship. Sweeping statements made without foundation and the conclusions drawn (which are likely to be true), are made far too flippantly.
Unfortunately this pamphlet (hardly what I’d term a “book”), is not saved by the writing; more like a sophomore term paper, which in my day would not merit more than a “C”.
There has to be better treatment of this very devastating issue.

[Virginia Sue]

There seems nothing wrong with this summary man's injustices, despite some clumsy writing. Did a computer write it? What I want to know is, who is University Press? Who writes a series of nonfiction pamphlets without identifying the writer, the sources, the publisher's location? Does anyone know? I'm not saying I found anything wrong or offensive. I just want to know who it is.
I, among others, bought it thinking it was somehow related to the Wilkerson book. Beware! It's not.

[Tom Boyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing too new in this book. If you are totally uninformed about race, gender, LGBTQ, age, or social status, then you could benefit. It's kind of a handy book to keep to try and educate those who's biases make them over react to daily issues.

[Eric Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caste review

Well written book. Good description of the many ways mankind has created to gain advantages over other humans. I read this book to better understand and overcome my various biases.

[Neill & Linda Brownstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Succinct but glib

I expected a lot more depth hearing reviews of CASTE from.friends and family. Each type of bias speaks very briefly to the nature of that particular bias while avoiding a deep dive either into the psychosis nor sufficient case studies.

[Robert Faron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fine summary or difference

Concise descriptions of caste and prejudice among human categories and the treatment through power and domination of one set of humans over other humans without empathy.

[Alice · Rating 2 out of 5]

As another reviewer said, this is more appropriately classified as a pamphlet. It doesn’t have page numbers.

I ordered this on accident, thinking I was getting another book with the same title. I was able to return this and order the book I was originally looking for.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh....hardly qualifies as a book at 36 pages, an expanded essay maybe. Almost feels like a very general draft as a proposal for a longer book. Very little substantiation for general statements.

[Nancy Clisbee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not look closely enough.
This is a short, SHORT version of the book.
Moving on to the full text.
Very intriguing however.

[Claremarie Bonafede · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Brief Summary


A very brief summary of the history of race, sexism, and class. Causes you to look within st your own biases.

[Jennifer Grossi · Rating 3 out of 5]

So brief that transgender discrimination isn't even mentioned??

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and interesting, but not to be confused with the book by Isabel Wilkerson with the same main title. Because it is so short, it barely expands on any of the topics included.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A suitable, very brief text for one seminar of an entry-level class that explores discrimination, civil rights, or other movements.

[Andrew Levkoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little too brief

Too much that was obvious. Too little that shed new light, either on the past or on possible solutions. As basic a primer as one could imagine.

[David Evanoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Superficial

Neither of the words 'hierarchy' or 'disabled' appear in book. Wouldn't you think their discussion would be pretty fundamental to the discussion of the topic?

[Etana · Rating 1 out of 5]

wrong book/ meant to review Caste by Isabel Wilkinson.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drier than I had anticipated, but a good grounding in how humans have classified people from ancient times - - good context for the intractability of racism.

[Nancy Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much new

I did not learn much that I did not already know except for a few statistics on sexism. Pretty much a rehash of what the media have been bombarding us with daily.

[Tina Blease · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just couldn't finish it. I felt it feeds into putting people in boxes which is so wrong. We live in America. Every person needs to visit a real 3rd world country. Those are real problems.

[Brenda Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely a good read. Some of the same events are still occurring in today’s society.

[Daryl Nagai · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and simply worded series of essays about the various forms of discrimination in society.

[Ryo Ishizuka · Rating 2 out of 5]

5/10: Caste has an honorable purpose. Unfortunately, most of the points made were obvious.

[Laurie Zucker-Conde · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the author did a great job in presenting often fraught information in a clear, easy-to-understand, contextualized way that could be very helpful for teachers of middle-college age students. I appreciated her brief historical overview for each common -ism, since people who blame others for their own prejudice tend to erase or minimise history. I think it's important for all people to understand that bias is part of life, that we all have biases, prejudices, and perspectives based on our lived history and where we were born. When you recognise your own biases and those of your culture and upbringing, you can begin to treat others better and yourself with more compassion. You can also, hopefully, institute fairer social and economic policies, but that's a lot harder to do than simply reading a book that analyses our -isms. Nonetheless, denial changes nothing. I believe the intended audience for this book is students, and as such, the author ends each chapter with "reasons for hope", a common, necessary trope when dealing with younger people, since despair has never been known to be a positive change-maker. Thinking through presentation reminded me of other hatreds, such as the European prejudice against the Roma or gypsies, or modern day disdain of fat people. I wonder what it would be like or even if I could encounter others free of bias?

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kindle edition is only 7 chapters which doesn’t to justice to the book. I checked it out from my local library.
This is book that challenges your ideas of caste in the United States as compared to India. While the Indian caste system is more visible than the US ours still is there. The author shares personal stories as well as documented history with over 50 sources. African American are at the bottom of our system or the untouchables.
I grew up in Western and Central Kansas. Never saw a black person until we spent a summer in Lawrence Kansas while my parents attended KU. Some of this book gave me new insight into the 40sand 50s.
This a book recommended for adult and teenagers wanting to be a change maker as well as a good person. High school libraries will find the history in this book not found in others.

[Charles Anaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good start for the 21st century

I write this after the judgment is passed on George Floyd 's killer,
I am sceptical of anyone who says justice is served.
Until justice can function in the absence of public accountability to serve all members of the community without prejudice freedoms can't be protected in the world.
I stated this some month ago as part of a self education much to add more understanding other progression that rights have been fought for and I'm not disappointed.
There's t more historical aspects to consider and I'll keep reading much more like this book.

[Phillip B. Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good start

This was a good quick read on important biases. Given the brevity, only so much could be covered. I appreciate the use of examples for each type of bias. I also appreciate that the presentation was not overly judgemental. Hopefully a book like this will encourage the reader to flesh out biases with intent. It is a good beginning to examination and discussion of our biases.