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.īut 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. 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.

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. But how did this happen? And is there a way out? 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 not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. 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. Heather McGhee's specialty is the American economy-and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. Look for the author's new podcast, The Sum of Us, based on this book! Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist 'This is the book I've been waiting for.'-Ibram X. WINNER OF THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD - ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, The Washington Post, St. Description 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.

The sum of us heather