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

Shocking [and] hard to argue with ... McGhee is on [an] ambitious mission. [Her] optimistic demeanour [and] research also inspires hope ... It is tantalisingly easy to embrace her vision -- Gillian Tett ― FT

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

About the Author