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The Sum of Us

What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

Heather McGhee

$39.99

Hardback

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English
Profile Books Ltd
02 July 2021
What would make a society drain its public swimming baths and fill them with concrete rather than opening them to everyone? Political researcher Heather McGhee sets out across America to learn why white voters so often act against their own interests. Why do they block changes that would help them, and even destroy their own advantages, whenever people of colour also stand to benefit?

Their tragedy is that they believe they can't win unless somebody else loses. But this is a lie, and McGhee marshals overwhelming economic evidence, and a profound well of empathy, to reveal the surprising truth: even racists lose out under white supremacy. There is no escaping the burden of discrimination.

Indeed, as McGhee shows, it was racist lending policies that triggered the 2008 financial crisis, and there can be little prospect of tackling global climate change until its zero-sum delusions are defeated. America's racism is everybody's problem. The Sum of Us is a heartbreaking, panoramic insight into the workings of prejudice. And it is a timely invitation to solidarity among all humans, 'to piece together a new story of who we could be to one another'.

'This is the book I've been waiting for' - Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author, How to Be an Antiracist

'A must-read for everyone' - Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter

'With intelligence and care (as well as with a trove of sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes heart-opening true stories) Heather McGhee shows us what racism has cost all of us' - Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

'A vital, urgent, stirring, beautifully written book that offers a compassionate roadmap out of our present troubled moment' - George Saunders, Booker Prize-winning author
By:  
Imprint:   Profile Books Ltd
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Edition:   Main
Dimensions:   Height: 236mm,  Width: 154mm,  Spine: 40mm
Weight:   691g
ISBN:   9781788169646
ISBN 10:   1788169646
Pages:   448
Publication Date:  
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General/trade ,  Primary ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Heather McGhee is an expert in economic and social policy. The former president of the think tank Demos, she has drafted US legislation, testified before Congress and appeared on numerous news discussion shows. She chairs the board of Color of Change, America's largest online racial justice organization.

Reviews for The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

This is the book I've been waiting for -- Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author * How to Be an Antiracist * A must-read for everyone -- Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Impactful ... McGhee weaves together personal anecdotes and family history, reporting and social science to present an image of what the United States is, but does not have to be. It is a picture some Americans grew up seeing, which others ignore at their peril -- Emily Tamkin * New Statesman * With intelligence and care (as well as with a trove of sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes heart-opening true stories) Heather McGhee shows us what racism has cost all of us -- Elizabeth Gilbert * Eat, Pray, Love * A vital, urgent, stirring, beautifully written book that offers a compassionate roadmap out of our present troubled moment -- George Saunders, Booker Prize-winning author There is a striking clarity to this book; there is also a depth of kindness in it that all but the most churlish readers will find moving -- Jennifer Szalai * New York Times * Very real, and very hopeful, and that's the rarest of combinations. It will be a classic on the day it's published -- Bill McKibben, author * Falter * The beauty and power of this book is blinding. Heather McGhee is one of our society's brightest minds and The Sum of Us serves as a torch that we must follow to get us to a better place. The impact of racism is all encompassing, and this book doesn't just highlight that, it gives us a road map for the future. I am better because of this book. Our country will be better because of this book. -- Wes Moore, bestselling author of Five Days and The Other Wes Moore A powerful, singular, and prescriptive blend of the macro and the intimate. * O Magazine * Political commentator McGhee argues in her astute and persuasive debut that income inequality and the decline of the middle and working classes are a direct result of the country's long history of racial injustice ... This sharp, thorough, and engrossing report casts America's racial divide in a new light. * Publishers Weekly, starred * An eye-opening, powerful argument for working ever harder for racial equity. * Kirkus, starred * Heather McGhee does not shy away from telling hard truths. Racism sits at the heart of America, and McGhee shows its effects on the very people who cleave to it. The Sum of Us removes the cloak from this land of so-called innocents and brilliantly offers a path forward for the nation. This book is for all of us standing in the breach, working towards social change. With care and unflinching honesty, McGhee has written an extraordinary book for these difficult days. -- Eddie S. Glaude Jr., author of Begin Again


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