The Warmth of Other Suns

The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

By: Isabel Wilkerson

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson 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
LYNTON HISTORY PRIZE WINNER
HEARTLAND AWARD WINNER
DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE FINALIST

NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY

The New York Times • USA Today • O: The Oprah Magazine • Amazon • Publishers Weekly • Salon • Newsday • The Daily Beast

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY

The New Yorker • The Washington Post • The Economist • Boston Globe • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • Entertainment Weekly • Philadelphia Inquirer • The Guardian • The Seattle Times • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Christian Science Monitor

From 1915 to 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.

©2010 Isabel Wilkerson (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“A landmark piece of nonfiction . . . sure to hold many surprises for readers of any race or experience….A mesmerizing book that warrants comparison to The Promised Land, Nicholas Lemann’s study of the Great Migration’s early phase, and Common Ground, J. Anthony Lukas’s great, close-range look at racial strife in Boston….[Wilkerson’s] closeness with, and profound affection for, her subjects reflect her deep immersion in their stories and allow the reader to share that connection.” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

“ The Warmth of Other Suns is a brilliant and stirring epic, the first book to cover the full half-century of the Great Migration… Wilkerson combines impressive research…with great narrative and literary power. Ms. Wilkerson does for the Great Migration what John Steinbeck did for the Okies in his fiction masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath; she humanizes history, giving it emotional and psychological depth.” (John Stauffer, Wall Street Journal)

" The Warmth of Other Suns is epic in its reach and in its structure. Told in a voice that echoes the magic cadences of Toni Morrison or the folk wisdom of Zora Neale Hurston’s collected oral histories, Wilkerson’s book pulls not just the expanse of the migration into focus but its overall impact on politics, literature, music, sports — in the nation and the world." (Lynell George, Los Angeles Times)

A must read!!

This book is beautifully written, respectful to the people who were willing to share their stories and an eye opening epic about a time in our country when we all struggled with our identity. Such a powerful testimony to the human spirit and the hope for a better future. We need to read and learn from our past mistakes and stop repeating them.

Essential reading

I cannot offer enough praise for this book and this production. The book itself is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the roots of the continuing struggle for equality faced by any of our friends of African descent. We are decades, if not centuries, away from achieving anything near equality or justice for them. This book, and the stories it tells, are a good start toward understanding that.

But beyond the text, there is the production itself. Not since Jim Dale's exceptional work on the Harry Potter series have I had the pleasure of hearing characters so wonderfully brought to life. Robin Miles is an exceptional talent, and her gifts made an already excellent work even better.

Read this book, or better yet listen to it. You won't be sorry.

Splendid Narrative...highly recommended!

This book has enlightened me as third generation post migration- Arkansas to Michigan. Thought provoking

Exceptional!

One of the best passionately narrated audio book I've ever listened to...as if I were there. Kudos.

MUST READ!!!

LOVED IT!!! NO WORDS CAN ADEQUATELY EXPRESS. THANK YOU FOR THIS AMAZING TRAVEL THROUGH TIME.

Beautifully written and read

One of the most important books of this or any decade. Very well researched and written. The narrative as well as the history is compelling and it is beautifully read. All Americans should read or listen to this book.

Excellent read

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. it was very informative and opened my eyes to a part of history that is my own.

Simply excellent

The best nkn fiction I have ever read. I recommend! It highly. Hope you enjoy.

Most thought provoking book I've read

This book helped me gain some perspective on what life was like for my grandparents moving from the south to the north in the early 60s. Forever changed and immensely more grateful for their sacrifices. This is essential US history content.

First audiobook

This is my first audiobook and it’s a nice introduction to this type of reading. The voice narration and acting really do make the story come to life. Although not all books are suited for audio, I’d say that history and first-person accounts are.