The Sum of Us

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ΓÇó LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD ΓÇó One of todayΓÇÖs most insightful and influential thinkers offers a powerful exploration of inequality and the lesson that generations of Americans have failed to learn: Racism has a cost for everyoneΓÇönot just for people of color. WINNER OF THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD ΓÇó ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time,The Washington PostSt. Louis Post-DispatchMs. magazineBookRiotLibrary Journal ΓÇ£This is the book IΓÇÖve been waiting for.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöIbram X. Kendi#1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist Look for the authorΓÇÖs new podcastThe Sum of Usbased on this book! Heather McGheeΓÇÖs specialty is the American economyΓÇöand the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructureshe found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white peopletoo. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problemsthe core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out? McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Maine to Mississippi to Californiatallying what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigmΓÇöthe idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. Along the wayshe meets white people who confide in her about losing their homestheir dreamsand their shot at better jobs to the toxic mix of American racism and greed. This is the story of how public goods in this countryΓÇöfrom parks and pools to functioning schoolsΓÇöhave become private luxuries; of how unions collapsedwages stagnatedand inequality increased; and of how this countryunique among the worldΓÇÖs advanced economieshas thwarted universal healthcare. But in unlikely places of worship and workMcGhee finds proof of what she calls the Solidarity Dividend: the benefits we gain when people come together across race to accomplish what we simply canΓÇÖt do on our own. The Sum of Us is not only a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here but also a heartfelt messagedelivered with startling empathyfrom a black woman to a multiracial America. It leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than a zero-sum game. LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL