NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this beautifully written masterwork, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people … 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.
With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this story through the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, who in 1937 left sharecropping and prejudice in Mississippi for Chicago, where she achieved quiet blue-collar success and, in old age, voted for Barack Obama when he ran for an Illinois Senate seat; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, where he endangered his job fighting for civil rights, saw his family fall, and finally found peace in God; and Robert Foster, who left Louisiana in 1953 to pursue a medical career, the personal physician to Ray Charles as part of a glitteringly successful medical career, which allowed him to purchase a grand home where he often threw exuberant parties.
Wilkerson brilliantly captures their first treacherous and exhausting cross-country trips by car and train and their new lives in colonies that grew into ghettos, as well as how they changed these cities with southern food, faith, and culture and improved them with discipline, drive, and hard work. Both a riveting microcosm and a major assessment, The Warmth of Other Suns is a bold, remarkable, and riveting work, a superb account of an “unrecognized immigration” within our own land. Through the breadth of its narrative, the beauty of the writing, the depth of its research, and the fullness of the people and lives portrayed herein, this book is destined to become a classic.
MARK LYNTON HISTORY PRIZE WINNER
HEARTLAND AWARD WINNER
DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE FINALIST
NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
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The Warmth of Other Suns is a history of The Great Migration told through the lives of three migrants. It does a very good job documenting the massive movement of black Americans from the South to the North and West in middle of the 20th century. It stands out because the three characters — with their pain, their fears, and their hopes — make …
One of the great untold stories of American history is the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities in search of a better life. Now Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson brings it to life in The Warmth of Other Suns.
Over six million African-Americans migrated North during this period, …
Because this book is mostly a narrative of 3 people who participated in the Great Migration, it was easy to read as well as informative. I knew almost nothing about the migration before this book. Highly recommend.
It’s hard to recommend this book highly enough. The subject matter of the Black migration in America out of the South is obviously important. I first read this nonfiction about ten years ago and was surprised and embarrassed then at how much I was learning about Jim Crow laws and culture in the first half of the twentieth century. Why didn’t I …
Very inspirational, informative, well researched telling of the true story of the USA’s great migration of Black Americans seeking better opportunities for themselves and their families in northern & western cities from the dehumanizing injustices & prejudices of the Jim Crow south. Told mainly through the experiences of three individuals, this …
This non-fiction book reads like the most interesting fiction. I eagerly followed the three main families who moved North in different decades. It was a fascination and well-written read. Isabel Wilkerson is a genius. It’s 800 pages that just fly by. I loved it!
“I was leaving the South
to fling myself into the unknown . . .
I was taking a part of the South
to transplant in alien soil,
to see if it could grow differently,
if it could drink of new and cool rains,
bend in strange winds,
respond to the warmth of other suns
and, perhaps, to bloom”
― Richard Wright
Black History Month will be here soon. …
If I could give this book SIX stars, I would. I’m not sure I’ve ever used this word to describe any book I’ve read, but it’s TRANSFORMATIVE!
Before reading THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS, I thought I had a reasonable white person’s understanding of the pervasive nature of racism in the United States. But I never fully understood the daily impact racism …
This nonfiction book gives real life understand and of the Jim Crow era.
One of the best books I have ever read! Excellent insight of the migration that took place in the US in the the 20th century to the 1960s.
The book follows three black Americans who travel north after the civil war and later to get away from the “south” and the treatment of their race. Each one moves away, to Chicago, New York City and LA and the book follows them thru the years as they find the “north” has many of its own problems toward the blacks. It is long but easy reading. Very …
Historical . Did not know enough about the migration of the Afro-Americans to the north.
Ejoyed this book very much and learned so much about migration from the south. Passed it on to a friend who also enjoyed it.
Wilkerson’s superbly written history of the Black migration in the first three quarters of the 20th century is told through the lens of three individuals who left the South for new lives in the Northern and Western US. Highly recommended.
A well written book full of stories I needed to know. I am so glad I read it and highly recommend it. This is an invaluable piece of non-fiction that should be read by every adult.
African American interests about family life and racism
One of my favorite books of all time, and I read constantly.
Excellent history of blacks in USA
a teacher friend said it should be required reading in high school.
This book brings the oppression of black to stark reality. It is extremely well written. I recommend it highly.