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Introducing and presenting thirty core texts from the sociological writings of W. E. B. Du Bois, Robert Worthams unique reader highlights Du Bois as a multifaceted researcher and thinker who, by attempting to approach African American social life from every angle, became a pioneer in American sociology. As this astute reader demonstrates, in addition to his profound contributions to our understanding of racial inequality in the United States, Du Bois made momentous advances in the areas of research methods, social problems, community studies, population studies, the sociology of religion, and crime and deviance. When sociology appeared to be heading toward a deductive methodology, Du Bois presented a strong argument for inductive methods, advocating for the use of a more interdisciplinary approach. Eventually, combining sociological perspectives with those of history and anthropology, he developed his landmark approach: methodological triangulation. In this long-overdue volume, Wortham showcases the enormous influence of Du Bois' wide-ranging sociological imagination. Organized into four major parts--The Scientific Study of Society and Social Problems, Social Structure and Social Processes, Dimensions of Inequality, and Social Dynamics--the reader concludes with a complete biography of Du Bois' early sociological works. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

DuBois' political record & "later work"
While it is true that DuBois was "pro-Russia" and "pro-Stalin," so was much of the left at the time. That was the beef in the peace movement between the Trotskyists and the Stalinists that culminated in the infamous slander lawsuit by Lillian Hellman (another pro-Stalinist) against Mary McCarthy (a Trotskyist who severely criticized Hellman, claiming everything she said was a lie, or at least fiction... which had some credibility in regards to disputed "facts" in Hellman's disputed "memoires"). Just the same, the pro-Stalinist left was conflicted, yet rationalized their stance because of the aggressive stance by the U.S. against a socialist country which embodied, at least in theory, their sought-for political and social ideals.

As for DuBois, he finally did call a press conference in 1960 and join the Communist Party as well as renounce his citizenship because he was disgusted with having his passport taken away from him for many years on the premise that by criticizing racism in American society that he was somehow harming the image of America abroad. It did far more to harm America's image by suppressing such freedom of expression of one of its most renowned and accomplished African-Americans in history. The consequence, as he predicted, was erasure from the history books of his memory, except as a "Black scholar."

The poster below who didn't like the book (which he admits he didn't read) or DuBois himself (who he slanders) is obviously ignorant of the fact that DuBois' "later work" was in fact the _Encyclopedia Africana_ which is being completed with money from Microsoft Corp. under the guidance of Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and Harvard professors Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Beyond Ideology
The ad hominem attack in the anonymous review of this work sheds no light on the content of the DuBois work or of its significance in a historical or political context outside of a narrow anticommunist ideological framework, and the comments are little more than a personal diatribe. It adds nothing to any knowledge of the work itself, and is completely useless as a "review," not to mention a knowledgeable "political analysis." Probably one of those CIA-wannabe MA students from the University of Washington - a program that produces "scholars" of whom a respectable high school would be ashamed to lay claim.

Being Black can't excuse being Red
I haven't read the Dubois book, but the review by Anne O'Neill has the intellectual respectability of putting tin foil in your hat to protect your brain from Martian mind-control radiation.
First, Dubois was in fact a Marxist and a socialist, and a pro-Russian defender of Stalin and the Soviet Union at the time of this book. A decade later, in the 1960's, he joined the Communist Party, emigrated to Ghana, and renounced his American citizenship. These actions and beliefs constitute serious intellectual and moral failures which disqualify his later intellectual work from serious consideration. Belief in Marxism absolutely incapacitates one from serious historical or economic analysis, much as belief in a flat earth renders one incapable of responsible astronomy.
Second, some historical facts: 1) Dubois was not here a victim of "the McCarthy witchhunt of the 1950's." McCarthy did not chair any hearings until 1952, a year later. 2) The HUAC hearings in the 1940's demonstrated that the Communist Party of the USA was openly committed to the overthrow of the US constitution, was controlled by Stalin, had infiltrated high positions in the Federal Executive with agents of the Soviet Union, and was engaged in espionage and policy influence. The post-Cold War opening of archives on both sides of the defunct Iron Curtain has confirmed all of these facts in detail. [Read Ann Coulter's "Treason" for an entertaining introduction to the truth.] Surely these anti-American activities were less American than the HUAC's exposure of them. 3) The Peace Information Center was attacked for peddling Stalinist propaganda and supporting USSR government policies, not for questioning US government policy. Many non-Communists questioned the US government and its policies without becoming targets. 4) The Korean War was not part of a "liberation movement;" it was instigated and controlled personally by Stalin to test American resolve as a prelude to possible Soviet military aggression in Europe. [This is documented by former Soviet archives. Read Norman Friedman's "The Fifty-Year War" for details.]
Third, the phrase "Korean modern industrial evolution as it was retarded and hopelessly perverted to suit colonial demands" is patently silly. South Korean has over the last 50 years achieved democratic and economic freedoms which have given this small country an economy roughly the size of Russia's. By comparison, the still Stalinist North Korea cannot feed its own people. Even ex-communist Russia cannot now provide its people the wealth and freedom which South Koreans enjoy.
Finally, the central story of the 20th century is the triumph of humanity over the intellectual, moral, and practical disaster called socialism, in both its nationalist/facist and internationalist/soviet guises. In this struggle, in 1951, Dubois was on the side of the mass murderers, not freedom. The verdict is in: The Dubois analyses of the Korean War, and the governments his analysis defended, now deservedly reside in the dustbin of history, completely disproven and discredited by subsequent events and scholarship.

Chronicle of U.S. and International Peace Movement in 1950
This is the little-known story of the American and International Peace Movement of the post-WWII period and up to the beginning of the Korean War. Dr. DuBois writes of his experience being incarcerated on his 83rd birthday and put on trial during the McCarthy witchhunt of the 1950s, chronicling his arrest as an 'unregistered foreign agent' by the unAmerican 'House unAmerican Activities Committee,' as part of the Cold War hysteria of the time. He decides to fight the charges in the name of fighting for American civil liberties and wins, but the story of the acquital still bore the headline, "Indicted." Dr. W.E.B. DuBois was the Vice-Chair of the Peace Information Center which the government tried to discredit because it forced the nation to look at itself and its policies - the continued threatened use of the atomic bomb and the drive to suppress postcolonial independence movements, such as the Korean conflict after that country's liberation from Japanese military rule and subsequent arbitrary division at the beginning of the Cold War (see 'Origins of the Korean War,' by Bruce Cumings). DuBois called the use of American military forces in Korea 'a tragic military adventure.' The current economic crisis is itself related to Korean modern industrial evolution as it was retarded and hopelessly perverted to suit colonial demands. By this historical fact, DuBois is truly exonerated by history in his analysis of the situation and its outcome. ... Read more

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Featuring poetry, fiction, autobiography and literary criticism, this is a comprehensive and vital collection featuring the work of the major black voices of a century. An unparalleled important classic anthology with timeless appeal. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Black Voices
I am unable to submit a review because after waiting from July 9, 2009 until present (August 10, 2009) I have yet to receive the book or a refund.Terrible disappointed.

A Must Have
This book is a must have for all African American literature classes! ... Read more

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A collection of writings from W.E.B. Du Bois, who combined radical politics with unflinching support for civil rights and racial equality.  Preface gives a brief biography. ... Read more

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This title has fewer than 24 printed text pages. The Conservation of Races - The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 2 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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The problem of "the color line," W.E.B. Du Bois's ever-present polemical theme, is at the core of this novel of sensual love, radical politics, and the quest for racial justice. Originally published by Harcourt Brace and Co. in 1928, Dark Princess was one of two novels written by Du Bois. Toward the end of his life he ranked it as his favorite of all his works.

For the fantastical storyline, heavy with propagandist overtones, Du Bois depicts 1920s America as a racist nation primed for radical protest and terrorism. Matthew Townes, the protagonist, is a medical student expelled because his race bars him from the required course in obstetrics in a white hospital. Self-exiled in Berlin after his political idealism is corrupted, Townes falls in love with Princess Kautilya, daughter of a maharajah, and joins the international team she heads in which people of color unite against white imperialism. Du Bois recounts their quest for liberation in a whites-only world that overwhelms their passionate love and separates them. Du Bois concludes the novel with the birth of their son--proclaimed as the Maharajah of Bwodpur and "Messenger and Messiah to all the Darker Worlds."

The reviewer for the New York Herald Tribune found "amidst much pure romance and preciosity of style there are rich deposits of straight sociology [as well as] interesting and revealing reading [for] the white reader who has yet few ways of looking into the many closed chambers of Negro life or of seeing into the dilemmas of the intellectual Negro mind and heart." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Surprised!
I have never liked anything that Mr. Dubois has written.I have always been annoyed at his pompous, pretentious, and laborious writing style.He always displayed an elitist and disdainful attitude toward the Black masses. So I was very hesitant about reading anything else written by him. However, I have felt compelled to read some of his works to see what all the wahala was about.So I gave Dark Princess a try and if he grab me in the first 20 pages, I would read further.

This is only book he was written that I can say I enjoyed. He stilled exhibited some of his old traits.However, they were minimized and not as annoying.

My great pleasure is seeing t romantic side of W.E.B. Dubois
I loved it. I love Dubois' fatherly spirit, his international wisdom, and the strength he has in showing this side of himself, inspite of threats that this kind of writing could end his writing career . I have read many of DuBois books, however, this is the very first time that I have even heard (1997) about a romance book. And told that it's the only one.Still, from Dubois-WOW!!And to hear him say that he really likes this kind of writing, that it's his favorite book, but others discouraged him, both Black and White. I feel very special and priviledged (though its public) to know this romantic side of Dubios, compared to his other more well-known writings. I'm glad this side of him didn't get lost.

His words of encouragement still speaks volumes to me today. Its been awhile since I read the book, and I know this posting is old. Anyway, I happen to have a book here with me that has a quote from Dubios that I believe is from Dark Princess."I have known the women of many lands and nations, I have known, seen, and lived beside them, but none have I known more sweetly feminine, more unansweringly loyal, more desperately earnest, and more instinctively pure in body and soul than the daughters of my African-American mothers. This then-a little thing-to their memory and inspiration."

How insightful and sensitive to write such encouraging words for all the world to read.Still, I'd like to know more on what Dubois did to combat sexism in his time. I've read only small pieces of Dubios' feelings on how African American females were being slighted, I think.Did he ever speak directly to the sexism within the African-American community? ... Read more

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The papers of William Shedrick Willis (1921-1983), housed at the American Philosophical Society, include his drafts of the manuscript, Boas Goes to Atlanta. They contain the fascinating story of Franz Boas s visit to Atlanta University in 1906, and more, because Willis intended the work to be a book on Boas s work in black anthropology. Zumwalt focuses on what was to have been Willis s first chapter, Boas Goes to Atlanta. Zumalt expands the sections on Boas s trip to Atlanta, the time he spent on the campus of Atlanta University, the reaction to his talk by blacks and whites, and the conflict between W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. Zumwalt came to know him better as she read of his encounters with racism on a personal level and on institutional levels. Photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Classic!!!
A wonderful overview of the monumental role African people have played in history before the slave trade.Some of the topics in this book include Black Ancient Egypt, how the Greeks and the Romans revered Blacks and held black africans in such a positive light, Black African(MOORS) conquest of the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal), the medieval West African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay who were world renown for their tremendous wealth and military power, and various other pertinent topics in African history.

I especially like the "Rape of Africa" chapter, as Du Bois provides a thorough explanation as to the devastating impact the slave trade had on Western and Central African civilizations/societies. He also discusses how the slave trade catapulted Europe ahead of the rest of the world in terms of wealth and power. They dont seem to teach this information in high schools.


For those who want an introduction to Black African history and why people of African descent are struggling in the world today, this book is for you. This is probably the best introduction to Black African history book that I have ever read. Another book to read along with this book is J.A Roger's "Nature Knows no Color", a book that discusses many the same things that Du Bois addresses but provides better background information of each topic. We need to have both of these books read to all black people!

Cornel West before Cornel West
This book further highlights the brilliance of W.E.B. DuBois. He masterfully articulates the contributions of Africa to the world, contributions that most people are not aware of. This is not the type of book that some people might classify as just another attempt to put a black face on history. To think that is not to know Dr. Dubois. This book is scholarship.

DuBois was the first African-American to receive a PhD. from Harvard University. His other education came from some of the best schools in the United States and Europe. His methods of research were more of a scientist than a historian or surveyor. It was through his meticulous methodolory that we have much of what we now call sociology. (His dissertation was entitled "The Suppression of the African Slave Trade", also in print.)Being of mixed heritage, DuBois experienced privilege and discrimination, all making him very critical of oppression and racism.

This book takes the reader back to some of the first encounters between Africa and Europe, highlighting many consequences of those encounters. He looked at the beginnings of civilization (in Ethiopia and the along the Nile Valley) and the inner workings of the slave trade. Kusha and Nubia are given a place in world history, as well as the kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhai.

As a sociologist, DuBois laid out the results of free labor and the products that gave wealth to Europe and America. One chapter is entitled "The Rape of Africa", where he looked at the resources that were taken from Africa like labor and diamonds among other things. You even get a look at the Pan-African Movement, the need to bring Africans in the Diaspora together for a common cause. You actually begin to see how DuBois and Booker T. Washington clashed on isssues and how DuBois starts to pick up some of the ideas of nationalist Marcus Garvey. There is a statement he makes on p. 310 ending an address to the people of Ghana on the future of Africa in 1958 at age 90 where he says, " You have nothing to lose but your chains! You have a continent to regain! You have freedom and human dignity to attain!" Quite different from the integrationist that history so vividly spotlights.

I personally found the end of the book most interesting. DuBois wrote of the effects of capitalism on the world. His analysis brought forth the idea that the desire for personal gain justified the treatment of others that were differents. There are copies of speeches that he gave while in his 90's, still showing his intellectual prowess and his disdain for the conditions that effected African-Americans and the African continent (this is during the 1960s). He spoke to the importance of having an independent African continent and relationships with China and the Soviet Union.

I'm glad that these parts are at the end because DuBois' communist reputation would taint the brilliance of the book. The end is were it becomes evident that he has socialist views. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to make some real connections between some of the world's current situations and the past. Dr. DuBois gives us insight on World Wars I and II, the beginnings of the Pan-African Movement (and if you read between the lines, he plants some seeds of the Niagra Movement and the NAACP) and African Independence Movement of the 1960's (led by Kwame Nkrumah).

The closest we have seen to this type of critial thinking and reflection on European dominance of the world is Dr. Cornel West. WEB DuBois is one of greatest minds the United States has produced, in the catagory of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Yet he will never get his just due because he was a registered Communist and America has no sympathy for Communists.

Excellent! A must read for the student of world history.
DuBois' work is a seminal accomplishment. This is a wonderful survey of the important, nay, vital role that Afrika and Afrikan people have played in world history. DuBois gives the reader an intricate and thoroughgoingglimpse at how Afrika and all of her resources - mineral, human, land -have shaped the destiny and laid the foundation for the modern world. Amust read for the novice or specialist in Afrikan history and geopolitics.Further, the author shows how European economies have been bolstered at theexpense of Afrikan people. In one chapter, "The Rape of Africa,"the reader is given a chance to see how the colonial powers partitioned thecontinent to satisfy their own hegemonic and dastardly needs. This is animportant work that should, no doubt, be a cornerstone of any BlackStudies, Political Science, or World History class. ... Read more

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Interpreting Du Bois' thoughts on race and culture in a broadly philosophical sense, this volume assembles original essays by some of today's leading scholars in a critical dialogue on different important theoretical and practical issues that concerned him throughout his long career: the conundrum of race, the issue of gender equality, and the perplexities of pan-Africanism. ... Read more

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W. E. B. Du Bois was the pre-eminent African American intellectual of the twentieth century.As a pioneering historian, sociologist and civil rights activist, and as a novelist and autobiographer, he made the problem of race central to an understanding of the United States within both national and transnational contexts; his masterwork The Souls of Black Folk (1903) is today among the most widely read and most often quoted works of American literature. This Companion presents ten specially commissioned essays by an international team of scholars which explore key aspects of Du Bois's work. The book offers students a critical introduction to Du Bois, as well as opening new pathways into the further study of his remarkable career. It will be of interest to all those working in African American studies, American literature, and American studies generally. ... Read more

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The Souls of W. E. B. Du Bois explores the relationship of W. E. B. Du Bois's seminal book, The Souls of Black Folk, to other works in his scholarly portfolio and to his larger project concerning race, racial identity, and the social objectives of scholarly engagement. The new, original chapters in this book, written by leading Du Bois scholars, offer a critical reading of Souls and its relevance a century later in today's world. The chapters show how Souls extends, refines, or introduces ideas developed in Du Bois's The Philadelphia Negro and Black Reconstruction, and how Souls relates to Du Bois's early considerations of social activism on the behalf of African Americans and to his thinking about the situation of African American women. The book demonstrates how significant Souls is for Du Bois's overarching objectives concerning racial theorizing, the social conditions affecting race, and the possibilities for social justice. ... Read more

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Reassessing the meanings of "black humor" and "dark satire," Laughing Fit to Kill illustrates how black comedians, writers, and artists have deftly deployed various modes of comedic "conjuring"--the absurd, the grotesque, and the strategic expression of racial stereotypes--to redress not only the past injustices of slavery and racism in America but also their legacy in the present. Focusing on representations of slavery in the post-civil rights era, Carpio explores stereotypes in Richard Pryor's groundbreaking stand-up act and the outrageous comedy of Chappelle's Show to demonstrate how deeply indebted they are to the sly social criticism embedded in the profoundly ironic nineteenth-century fiction of William Wells Brown and Charles W. Chesnutt. Similarly, she reveals how the iconoclastic literary works of Ishmael Reed and Suzan-Lori Parks use satire, hyperbole, and burlesque humor to represent a violent history and to take on issues of racial injustice. With an abundance of illustrations, Carpio also extends her discussion of radical black comedy to the visual arts as she reveals how the use of subversive appropriation by Kara Walker and Robert Colescott cleverly lampoons the iconography of slavery. Ultimately, Laughing Fit to Kill offers a unique look at the bold, complex, and just plain funny ways that African American artists have used laughter to critique slavery's dark legacy. ... Read more

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A comprehensive collection of speeches by the Black rights advocate and scholar. 2nd of 2 vols.

Tribute to W.E.B. DuBois by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, selected bibliograpy, notes, index. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Encyclopedia of Struggle
Reader's Comment: DuBois Speaks, by W.E.B. DuBois

Encyclopedia of Struggle
These articles and speeches constitute an encyclopedia of the U.S. Black liberation struggle, and to a lesser degree, the freedom struggle in Africa, especially when combined with his first volume covering 1890 - 1919.
Dubois was a leader of the Black struggle from the late 1800s through much of the 1900s.A founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and editor of its magazine from 1910 until 1934, he also organized the Pan African Conference in the 1920s.He was a fighter against U.S. government imperialist wars and during the cold war he was outspoken against McCarthyite witch-hunts.
Born in 1868, he witnessed and experienced the results of the defeat of Radical Reconstruction following the U.S. Civil War.He witnessed the rise of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s and, having renounced his U.S. Citizenship, he died in Ghana in 1963.

The sharpness of a great mind directed against racism
What struck me with these articles and speeches--after mainly knowing Dubois from his larger works--is the rigorousness of his mind, and his great literary gifts.Some of the writing is thrilling just as writing. Also quite interesting are his analyses of Garvey and his attempt to look back at his debates with Booker T. Washington particularly on industrial versus academic education.

Dubois was never a Marxist.In 1916 he shocked general Black opinion by supporting the racist segregationist Woodrow Wilson for president and for his support to US participation in World War beliving that Black participation would further progress for Black people and give supporters of African liberation like himself influence in the peace settlement, a cruel illusion.Likewise, during the 1930s, Dubois tended to be taken in by Japanese imperialism's claims to defend all of the "colored races" against US and American imperialism.During the Second World War, Dubois supported Washington's imperialist war, although he criticized the segregation of the US war machine.

In the late mid 1940s W.E. B.Dubois confused his own progressivist liberal politics with the similarly proliberal policies of the American Communist party and Maoist China. He even became a member of the CPUSA, and left the country for exile first in China and then in Ghana.

However, it is very clear that long before this confusion, Dubois understood that American racism was rooted in the world-wide pattern of imperialist domination of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Dubois' ideas and speeches are needed to complete understanding of racism and imperialism.

While this book is sometimes not directly available from Amazon, it is always available from BooksfromPathfinder, which you can reach by clicking on New and Used further up this page.

While this book is not always available on Amazon, it is always available from BooksfromPathfinder, an Amazon Z store that you can get to by clicking on New and Used further up this page!

A book for all humanity!
Definitely read these speeches and writings by W.E.B. DuBois!They're exciting, eye-opening and inspiring, a call to struggle for the best we can make of humanity.

For much of the 20th century, W.E.B. DuBois was a leading figure in the fight against segregation, lynchings, race prejudice and oppression in the United States. He campaigned against the pervasive stereotypes of Afro-Americans, publicizing their accomplishments, abilities and stature as human beings. He challenged AFL unions and the Socialist party to reject the racist practices of the day and to united Black and white workers in a common struggle. He was outspoken opponent of colonial oppression and imperialist war and of the McCarthy witch hunt in the United States in the 1950s.

There 36 articles and speeches cover a fascinating range of topics: from the Marcus Garvey movement in the 1920s to the debates on education and the role of Afro-Americans in the post-Civil War period, from the fight against lynching to the anti-colonial freedom struggles of the 1950s and 1960s.

One of my favorites is his 1929 speech at the Chicago Forum where he debated a prominent racist, and white-supremecist, Lothrop Stoddard.DuBois fiercely attacks the myths of race supremacy, arguing that whether "Nordic, Mediterranean, Indian, Chinese or Negro... the proofs of essential human equality of gift are overwhelming." He exposes the economic interests behind race oppression and champions "the black and brown and yellow men [who] demand the right to be men." Don't miss this one! ... Read more

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Traces a lineage of pro-feminist black men to two early radical proponents of female equality. ... Read more