
The Sum of Us
What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
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Narrated by:
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Heather McGhee
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By:
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Heather McGhee
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • One of today’s 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 everyone—not just for people of color.
WINNER OF THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, The Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ms. magazine, BookRiot, Library Journal
“This is the book I’ve been waiting for.”—Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist
Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she 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 people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the 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 California, tallying what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm—the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. Along the way, she meets white people who confide in her about losing their homes, their dreams, and their shot at better jobs to the toxic mix of American racism and greed. This is the story of how public goods in this country—from parks and pools to functioning schools—have become private luxuries; of how unions collapsed, wages stagnated, and inequality increased; and of how this country, unique among the world’s advanced economies, has thwarted universal healthcare.
But in unlikely places of worship and work, McGhee finds proof of what she calls the Solidarity Dividend: the benefits we gain when people come together across race to accomplish what we simply can’t do on our own. The Sum of Us is not only a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here but also a heartfelt message, delivered with startling empathy, from 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
©2021 Heather McGhee (P)2021 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Illuminating and hopeful.... McGhee isn’t a stinging polemicist; she cajoles instead of ridicules. She appeals to concrete self-interest in order to show how our fortunes are tied up with the fortunes of others. ‘We suffer because our society was raised deficient in social solidarity,’ she writes, explaining that this idea is ‘true to my optimistic nature.’ She is compassionate but also clear-eyed, refusing to downplay the horrors of racism.... 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, The New York Times)
“In this critical moment where we have fallen so far apart, The Sum of Us is a book we all need. For close to a decade, the BlackLivesMatter movement has been doing the work to change how racism, and America's willful amnesia surrounding it, devastatingly impacts the lives of Black people in America and around the world. This book provides an important and necessary piece of the equation - not just how racism hurts Black people and people of color, but white people, too. The Sum of Us is a must read for everyone who wants to understand how we got here, but more importantly, where we can go from here - and how we get there, together.” (Alicia Garza, author of The Purpose of Power and co-founder of Black Lives Matter)
"A book for every American." (Elizabeth Gilbert)
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- By Jean on 05-24-20
By: Isabel Allende, and others
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On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
- A Novel
- By: Ocean Vuong
- Narrated by: Ocean Vuong
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Poet Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late 20s, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born - a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam - and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation.
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Beautifully written, but painful.
- By NB on 06-10-19
By: Ocean Vuong
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Facing the Mountain
- A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II
- By: Daniel James Brown
- Narrated by: Louis Ozawa
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In the days and months after Pearl Harbor, the lives of Japanese Americans across the continent and Hawaii were changed forever. In this unforgettable chronicle of war-time America and the battlefields of Europe, Daniel James Brown portrays the journey of Rudy Tokiwa, Fred Shiosaki, and Kats Miho, who volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany, and Italy, where they were asked to do the near impossible. Brown also tells the story of these soldiers' parents, immigrants who were forced to submit to life in concentration camps on U.S. soil.
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Wow
- By Tbone McCoy on 06-13-21
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The Knowledge Gap
- The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System--and How to Fix it
- By: Natalie Wexler
- Narrated by: Natalie Wexler
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system - one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware.
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Thoughts on The Knowledge Gap
- By cchamberalain on 02-28-20
By: Natalie Wexler
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No More Lies
- By: Dick Gregory
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1972, during the Black Power Movement, iconoclast Dick Gregory challenged one of the foundations of America itself - its history, which had been written almost exclusively from the white male perspective. In No More Lies, this true trailblazer gave voice to African Americans, speaking their truth about the past and race relations in the United States. No More Lies offers this incomparable satirist’s intellectual, conspiratorial, and humorous spin on the facts.
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Could have been written in 2024
- By Stephanie Brown on 06-14-24
By: Dick Gregory
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Wrong Place Wrong Time
- A Novel
- By: Gillian McAllister
- Narrated by: Lesley Sharp
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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It is midnight on the morning of Halloween, and Jen anxiously waits up for her 18-year-old son, Todd, to return home. But worries about his broken curfew transform into something much more dangerous when Todd finally emerges from the darkness. As Jen watches through the window, she sees her funny, seemingly happy teenage son stab a total stranger.
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Love this book!
- By Amazon Customer on 08-04-22
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The Power of Showing Up
- How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired
- By: Daniel J. Siegel MD, Tina Payne Bryson PhD
- Narrated by: Daniel J. Siegel MD, Tina Payne Bryson PhD
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the very best scientific predictors for how any child turns out - in terms of happiness, academic success, leadership skills, and meaningful relationships - is whether at least one adult in their life has consistently shown up for them. In an age of scheduling demands and digital distractions, showing up for your child might sound like a tall order. But as best-selling authors Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson reassuringly explain, it doesn’t take a lot of time, energy, or money. Instead, showing up means offering a quality of presence.
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Great Educators
- By Bored on 02-26-21
By: Daniel J. Siegel MD, and others
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American Buffalo
- In Search of a Lost Icon
- By: Steven Rinella
- Narrated by: Steven Rinella
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Both a captivating narrative and a book of environmental and historical significance, American Buffalo tells us as much about ourselves as Americans as it does about the creature who perhaps best of all embodies the American ethos.
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Phenomenal
- By Hunter Cole on 08-01-19
By: Steven Rinella
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The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 is historian Christopher Clark’s riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself, but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
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Excellent, but
- By James A. Nietopski on 03-12-22
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The White Devil's Daughters
- The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown
- By: Julia Flynn Siler
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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During the first hundred years of Chinese immigration - from 1848 to 1943 - San Francisco was home to a shockingly extensive underground slave trade in Asian women, who were exploited as prostitutes and indentured servants. In this gripping, necessary book, best-selling author Julia Flynn Siler shines a light on this little-known chapter in our history - and gives us a vivid portrait of the safe house to which enslaved women escaped.
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Well researched
- By Qats reads on 08-05-19
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Sweet Tea and Sympathy
- By: Molly Harper
- Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Margot Cary has spent her life immersed in everything Lake Sackett is not. As an elite event planner, Margot's rubbed elbows with the cream of Chicago society and made elegance and glamour her business. She's riding high until one event goes tragically, spectacularly wrong. Now she's blackballed by the gala set and in dire need of a fresh start - and apparently the McCreadys are in need of an event planner with a tarnished reputation.
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I usually want Molly's books to go on forever....
- By TMCarlson on 11-25-17
By: Molly Harper
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Finding the Mother Tree
- Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
- By: Suzanne Simard
- Narrated by: Suzanne Simard
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. In this, her first book, now available in audio, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths—that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life.
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Couldn't finish, will try the hard copy
- By primrose on 07-22-21
By: Suzanne Simard
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I Like to Watch
- Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution
- By: Emily Nussbaum
- Narrated by: Emily Nussbaum
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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From her creation of the “Approval Matrix” in New York magazine in 2004 to her Pulitzer Prize–winning columns for The New Yorker, Emily Nussbaum has argued for a new way of looking at TV. In this collection, including two never-before-published essays, Nussbaum writes about her passion for television, beginning with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the show that set her on a fresh intellectual path. She explores the rise of the female screw-up, how fans warp the shows they love, the messy power of sexual violence on TV, and the year that jokes helped elect a reality-television president.
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Yes, this is worth a credit! 💯
- By Amazon Customer on 07-05-19
By: Emily Nussbaum
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Klara and the Sun
- A Novel
- By: Kazuo Ishiguro
- Narrated by: Sura Siu
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: What does it mean to love?
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Well Worth Having Waited For!
- By otherdeb on 03-04-21
By: Kazuo Ishiguro
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My Lovely Wife
- By: Samantha Downing
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored. We look like a normal couple. We're your neighbors, the parents of your kid's friend, the acquaintances with whom you keep meaning to get dinner. We all have our secrets to keeping a marriage alive. Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.
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Great narrator! Crazy story!
- By EasyBreezySunflower on 03-28-19
By: Samantha Downing
What listeners say about The Sum of Us
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- Jaime Wright
- 06-07-21
This is America
McGhee engages the reader/listener emotionally with personal vignettes from her life, interviews, and participant observation while providing extensive, original and existing, systematic qualitative and quantitative research as academic evidence for her argument against the zero sum game (i.e., white supremacist systems).
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- e.Bolds
- 05-05-21
Compelling...
A compelling historical review of systemic racism and bigotry in America, and how its ongoing grip on the country, threatens our national unity, and damages the quality of life for ALL Americans...
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- Ribich
- 03-22-21
Humbling and Important
This is the perfect book for now. I learned so much from this book. It explains so much about what our country is, why it is and what we can be together. I plan on rereading it again and again.
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- damon
- 03-13-21
Amazing
This book tells the true story of America and how racism keeps us from having nice things like health care, infrastructure, education etc. the use of the drained pool as an example and exemplar is masterful. We needed this deep dive into the truth. It takes Isabel Wilkerson’s
work in Caste to another level applying a social and economic policy lens.
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- Sheila Staunton
- 03-18-21
Wow! We have been DUPED!
As a 55 year old white woman, my heart was so heavy listening to the real truth on the history of this nation. I am truly appalled and vow to try to help people I grew up with to EDUCATE themselves. When we know better we do better. We should never let color, creed or anything else stand between us. We must have empathy and vow to be the change this world so desperately needs. Thank YOU Heather for opening my eyes wider to the truthful history of this nation.
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- William Malone
- 03-06-21
A Work to be Widely Read
A grand, beautiful work that clearly and powerfully puts forth its case. Helped me to better understand America.
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- John L. Fleming
- 07-09-21
Ouch!
I started to give this work four stars, but then I looked into my heart and asked where the book fell short: it didn’t! I was about to fault it for hurting my white feelings. The truth is, this is a must read for White folks. We live in a remarkable, post-George Floyd era, in which White people can no longer claim innocence or ignorance. Let the right call me “woke”! It’s about damn time White people stopped acting as the supreme race and started embracing the Human race!
Thank you, Heather, for telling the truth!
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- Anonymous User
- 09-17-21
The most important book I've ever read
so informative. this should be required reading for everyone who calls America home. well researched, and clearly explained.
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- Mary Vogel
- 06-12-21
A MUST READ FOR ALL AMERICANS
What I loved was Heather McGhee’s storytelling and her focus on some of the same topics I’m covering for PLACE Initiative. What was missing for me was any systemic analysis of a housing system that is not about housing; rather it’s about real estate appreciation. In booming cities that hurts most White people too. It especially hurts most young people—of whatever race—albeit it often hurts BIPOC young people more because they are less likely to have the bank of mom and dad. Still a truly great book…
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- Tiffney Marley
- 04-24-21
Bravo!
Brilliant account of the history of racism in America and what is needed for everyone to heal and build a new future where we all belong. Thank you. Outstanding!!!!
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