• The New Jim Crow

  • Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition
  • By: Michelle Alexander
  • Narrated by: Karen Chilton
  • Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (12,722 ratings)

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The New Jim Crow

By: Michelle Alexander
Narrated by: Karen Chilton
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Publisher's summary

Seldom does a book have the impact of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published in 2010, it has been cited in judicial decisions and has been adopted in campus-wide and community-wide reads; it helped inspire the creation of the Marshall Project and the new $100 million Art for Justice Fund; it has been the winner of numerous prizes, including the prestigious NAACP Image Award; and it has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times best seller list.

Most important of all, it has spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations motivated by Michelle Alexander’s unforgettable argument that “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it”. As the Birmingham News proclaimed, it is “undoubtedly the most important book published in this century about the U.S.”

Now, 10 years after it was first published, The New Press is proud to issue a 10th-anniversary edition with a new preface by Michelle Alexander that discusses the impact the book has had and the state of the criminal justice reform movement today.

©2010, 2012, 2020 Michelle Alexander (P)2012, 2020 Recorded Books

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Editor's Pick

Shedding light on a mass injustice
"I’m known as a bit of a true crime junkie around the office, and I can talk your ear off about how ethically executed content is the future of the genre. But there are bigger fish to fry than just salacious stories about serial killers and cults—like how the US criminal justice system has come to replace segregation as a large-scale tool of racial oppression. Civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander’s extensively researched, groundbreaking work on mass incarceration is a must-listen for anyone interested in the hot topic of criminal justice reform, and the myriad racial and ethical issues surrounding it."
Kat J., Audible Editor

What listeners say about The New Jim Crow

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Beautiful wake up for America and the world 🙏🏾

Beautiful wake up for America and the world. Her words were true, facts, and strong. As a people we were never meant to live side by side with the white population of America. It's sad but true. Still we rise, in love, in peace and in unity. Long live the beautiful black race ✊🏾

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Insightful, well researched, and informative

Racism exists. Racism exists in our country. The author makes the case that racism has become insidiously covert. What’s profound is the argument that while there are racist people among us, the concept of “color blindness,” the “war on drugs,” and the mass incarceration of black men serve to reinforce the behaviors of the pre-civil war era, namely, slavery.

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Required reading

This book must be required reading for all American adults, of any color or background. Listening is good, but after listening you will want to buy a printed copy and a highlighter. The level of detail and documentation in the regular text is excellent. This edition includes a very lengthy preface based on the four years of Trump and the 10 years total since it’s original publication. My recommendation is to read the original text first through till the end and then come back to the new preface. “Adapt or die.”

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Honest review

I believe this book is factually correct. From the research that I’ve done I found things that support the narrative of this book. I highly recommend it as a source of factual evidence for Jim Crowe against black folks in this country.

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Powerful and essential for all citizens

This should be required or listening for all young and old to understand Smerican racial history and injustice

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Thought-provoking

What did you love best about The New Jim Crow?

Eye-opening thesis. Very exhaustively researched presented in cogent way. I found myself regarding police officers on the side of the road in a different light: as agents of social control rather than neutral entities.

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Wow.

This is a genuinely challenging and thought-provoking work. Even movements that I took to be beneficial progressive are recast in this book as examples of superficial tokenism that allows us to ignore the structural inequalities affecting so many more lives than affirmative action does.

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Thought Provoking

Love the timeliness, historical break down as well as the individual accounts that supports the untold truth of this novel. I would recommend and refer back to this book again.

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a must read for all Americans

this was a monumental read for those who are interested in the truth and the factors of why society is the way it is from the past up to current times

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Excellent, important work

Would you listen to The New Jim Crow again? Why?

Definitely. It was eye opening, informative, and well-written.

What did you like best about this story?

This book illuminated a huge social and racial issue in the U.S. It was written in an accessible and understandable way.

What about Karen Chilton’s performance did you like?

Her reading is expressive and keeps the listener engaged.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

I learned a ton about the workings of the criminal justice system that I didn't know.

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