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 MustnRead.

Even as a black male, I didnt know the stories behind the great migration and the impact that it had on our history and lives today.

An Amazing Journey Into Our History

The story is written in creative vignettes, of several actual Black individuals and their families. She uses the history of the African American journey from enslavment, through the disappointment of emancipation and reconstruction and onward to the exodus out of the tortuous South to Northern cities where success and failure both bring heartbreak and triumph. Using all of the elements of memoir she brings the story of the people she chose to include alive. A book that should be read by all. It will stay with me forever.

Eye opening

Great narratives that explores the untold migration of African Amwricans fleeing political violence from the south.

Wonderful book!

If you could sum up The Warmth of Other Suns in three words, what would they be?

informative, moving, thoughtful

What does Robin Miles and Ken Burns (introduction) bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Robin's narration of the characters is excellent. There's never a sense of overdoing the accents or dialect. It contributes a lot to the feel of the story.

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

Yes, but I don't have that many hours in the day. But I did play it every chance I had.

Any additional comments?

This is a very moving book about things that are so often glossed over in history class. It's too easy to forget the sins of our nation's past and the human struggles that resulted from them.

Required reading for every black American.

Thank you to Isabel Wilkerson for telling our truth. I saw myself and everyone before me in the stories. It satisfied my heart and soul.

Moving and memorable!

This is the kind of history I love--the story of people's lives emerging through culture. The narration was beautifully done. The story needed to be told and the telling created more than a story.

Gives insight into the real struggle for equality.

A great history of African-American's struggle to overcome the scourge of slavery and severe racism in this country, particularly in the south. I grew up in the north and was never aware of the struggle. I thought the races had always been equal. This book reveals that it has been a long, hard road to equality, and why the cultures in America are so different in many ways. A great history lesson that takes us up to the present day.

Exemplary audiobook: compelling writing and dynamic narrator

The best audiobook I have listened to period. Wilkerson's writing is beautiful, poignant, and incredibly interesting.

The narrator's performance is stunning. I was amazed that I kept returning to the book for the 20+ hours it takes to listen to it and was always delighted, never bored.

Highly recommend.

good stories

this began slow and at.times voring, considered abandoning it, but one it got into the details of individual histories it became.fasinating and at the end I was happy I stayed with it

Bravo

Would you listen to The Warmth of Other Suns again? Why?

Probably not due to its length although It was very well done.

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

Ida May Brandon Gladney's positive attitude through loss after loss. Dr. Foster's harrowing trip out west and George's battles with the bosses of the orange groves.

Which character – as performed by Robin Miles and Ken Burns (introduction) – was your favorite?

Ida May

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Huh?

Any additional comments?

I think this should be required reading for high school students.