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)

Wonderful!

This book was narrated beautifully! I am truly amazed at the research conducted. Amazing story!

Incredible, Poignant, Moving, Shocking

What made the experience of listening to The Warmth of Other Suns the most enjoyable?

The way the author seamlessly integrated funny, heartbreaking, and inspiring first-person accounts of real people with sociology and history.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Warmth of Other Suns?

So many- the story of Joseph Pershing's arduous journey simply to escape the South-- adn then the trials he went through to be accepted in the North-- was especially memorable.

Have you listened to any of Robin Miles and Ken Burns (introduction) ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I just listened to Robin Miles narrate The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks! She is wonderful, such a warm and expressive voice.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I could have! But it was 22 hours long haha.

Any additional comments?

Wonderful American history nonfiction-

Facinating and Eye-opening

There is no way for me to praise this book too highly. As it takes you through a sweeping view of the migration of black people from the Jim Crow south to the great cities of the north, it weaves statistical facts and figures with the stories of three representative individuals, following their struggles and triumphs, through child rearing to old age and eventually to death. I fairly wept at their passing, as if they had been friends or relatives. That tells you how compellingly the author renders their stories. The book busts any number of myths, racist and otherwise, about this chapter in America history.

wonderful Read

What did you love best about The Warmth of Other Suns?

A very well written historical book.

What other book might you compare The Warmth of Other Suns to and why?

Cutting for Stone

Have you listened to any of Robin Miles’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not Sure.I don't pay attention-to the reader i'm more interested in the story line.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes the death of the Dr

Any additional comments?

Again struck by intensity of the hatred the Whites have towards Black People. I have difficulties understanding the root of the hatred. What did Black people do to the whites? Should'nt the hatred be from the oppressed on the oppressor?

Inspiring historical journey!

What a journey! I was riveted to the story from start to finish. Almost hated for it to end.

Well written

very well written and accurately researched. Told with a factual and unbiased tone regarding the sad history of Jim crow. Compassionate biography of three very different people who had the same goals and purposes for leaving the south.

An intriguing story.

I loved this story. my attention was held captive my each of the main characters and their life stories. I am so grateful that the author took great care to define the characters personalities , and history. I especially liked the historical and geographical back drop that weaves throughout the stories.

Well researched and cohesive

The hardships that African Americans experienced both in the South and as they migrated North are important to remember because they took place a century after their emancipation. The rich culture, and compelling stories of courage are described in vivid and interesting tales that are seamlessly held together over the decades of their journies

greatly performed

I loved it. the variety of the people that were followed. I had to shake my head at the cruel Ness of the time and what some things that have not chamged.

Every American needs to read this!

This book answers the questions that both blacks and whites have regarding why conditions within our communities, and relations between our communities, are as they are now. It also shows the way things have always been and the institutions that have kept them there for so long. It brings to mind the adage,"You might think you're finished with the past, but the past isn't finished with you".

Isabel Wilkinson's chronicle of the economic, health, mental and moral costs of state sponsored institutionalized racism is altogether compelling, engaging and compassionate.

The Warmth of Other Suns reads more like a novel than an academic book. I found it impossible to stop listening.