DigeeBooks

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. 

“This is the book I’ve been waiting for.” (Ibram X. Kendi, number one New York Times best-selling 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 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a common root problem: racism. 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 Mississippi to California to Maine, 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: gains that come when people come together across race, to accomplish what we simply can’t do on our own. The Sum of Us is a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here: divided and self-destructing, materially rich but spiritually starved and vastly unequal. McGhee marshals economic and sociological research to paint an irrefutable story of racism’s costs, but at the heart of the book are the humble stories of people yearning to be part of a better America, including white supremacy’s collateral victims: white people themselves. With startling empathy, this heartfelt message from a Black woman to a multiracial America leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than zero-sum.

In "The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together," Heather McGhee weaves together personal anecdotes, historical context, and economic data to paint a stark picture of the ways in which racism has held back not only people of color, but the entire United States.

McGhee argues that racism is a "zero-sum game," in which the gains of one group come at the expense of another. She shows how racism has led to lower wages, higher unemployment, and worse health outcomes for people of color, while also contributing to the rise of mass incarceration and the widening wealth gap.

But McGhee also offers a path forward. She argues that we can overcome racism by building a more inclusive economy that works for everyone. She calls for policies that promote economic opportunity for all, regardless of race, and that address the root causes of racism, such as poverty and segregation.

"The Sum of Us" is a powerful and persuasive book that makes a compelling case for racial justice. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the true cost of racism and how we can create a more just and equitable society for all.