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)

We must look back in order to keep moving forward

Its a history book for those of us who love a good story. Real-life events told through the eyes of those who lived it. The characters are endearing, fascinating, and utterly human. Loved every minute of it.

amazing

I needed this. My grandmother moved from Florida to New York and now I know which train route it may have been.

Poignant

Beautifully written and narrated. Wilkerson and Miles evoke conscious thinking, transporting listeners to places and times we must never forget. highly recommend as well as Caste: The origins of Our Discontents.

Essential

Epic, moving, enlightening, essential. Every person capable of reading should read this book. Highly recommend.

Should be required reading

This powerful and deeply human telling of our most shameful chapters in American history should be required reading in every high school in this country. If we truly want to live up to what’s advertised as the land of the free, young people need to know both the personal stories and the statistics and conclusions presented in this book. It’s easy to see why it won a Pulitzer.

A foundational must read.

As an immigrant myself I was in awe of all that I learned from Elisabeth Wilkinson’s masterpiece, about my adopted country. Rich and touching stories of three American families that picked up their belongings in the south where their forefathers had been picking cotton and were constantly struggling for basic rights - and settled in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The great migration was not touched on by the history books that I studied. Having read this, I can now reflect on both the good and the terrible foundations that this country comprises and better contribute to rebuild anew. Thank you Isabelle for opening my eyes as I can now better understand a number of my friends.

it was ok.

i didn't understand where the book was going. didn't know what to expect or to get from this book. didn't know if it was fiction or non fiction.

Best book I read this year

Such an incredible book. The author manages to give nonfiction a beautiful narrative, by using the stories of three people to show a broader phenomenon. I learned so much about our country.

great story

really enjoyed this well researched gem about my history. would recommend to others without hesitation

Simply Amazing!

This a sweeping documentary that reads like a fiction novel, narrating the great migration of blacks to the north. No stone it's left unturned. The storytelling is rich and nuanced, painful and triumphant. A staple for every library!