Amazon.com
W.E.B. Du Bois--the first African-American to earn a doctorate at Harvard, one of the founders of the NAACP, visionary Pan-Africanist intellectual, and author of the seminal text The Souls of Black Folks--has not received due honor in his own country because of his radicalism in later life. Du Bois, hounded during the McCarthy era for his left wing beliefs, eventually gave up his American citizenship. But as a revered leader of black people worldwide, Du Bois merited a state funeral in Ghana when he died there in 1963. This first volume in Lewis's biography, winner of the 1994 Pulitzer Prize, details Du Bois' early life and work, up to the landmark Pan-African Congress following World War I, which brought "black liberation" to world attention. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Even as the lunch counters were being liberated in the South, W.E.B. Du Bois predicted the "... deepening class conflict within black America and superficial economic improvement at best in the lot of the great majority of black people." Always an utterer of difficult and unpopular truths, Du Bois's writing still has the ring of prophecy come true. "The inflexible truth he embraced was that, just as Africans in the United States 'under the corporate rule of monopolized wealth ... will be confined to the lowest wage group,' so the peoples of the developing world faced subordination in the global scheme of things capitalist."

The long span of Du Bois's remarkable life (95 years) embodied the essence of African American dilemmas, from the early 1870s and post-Reconstruction to the early 1960s' civil rights revolution. Honored primarily for his enormous breakthroughs in black scholarship, urban sociology, and civil rights, Du Bois also paradoxically "... espoused racial and political beliefs of such variety and seeming contradiction as to bewilder and alienate as many Americans, black and white, as he inspired or converted." Marxism, in his old age, would supersede civil liberties as his ideological foundation.

The contradictions, the uncompromising brilliance, the allure, still has David L. Lewis asking, "Who is Du Bois, the man?" The more the details of his early life are probed, the more evident it becomes that Du Bois's "facts" differ from how he wrote about them. He crafted "a grand prose wherein the 'golden river' flowing near his birthplace is in fact the highly polluted Housatonic River; the 'mighty [Burghardt] clan' of his mother's people is in reality a hardscrabble band of peasant landholders clinging to postage-stamp-size holdings; the dashing cavalier father, Alfred Du Bois, is an army deserter and philanderer; and the 'gentle and decent poverty' of his childhood is more often sharp and deep." Are such discrepancies significant? In as much, claims Lewis, that they represent Du Bois's cultivation of his outsider vision--a stance articulated in his 1903 classic, The Soul of Black Folk, which describes the essential and necessary double-consciousness of the American black.

In his concentrated but vastly informative introduction, David Levering Lewis, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of W.E.B. Du Bois, posits four career turning points that shaped this highly charged political life--from the disputes between Du Bois and Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey to the New York-NAACP years (1934) and the internal rift caused by Du Bois's fearless denunciations to the halls of academe to a run for the U.S. Senate at the age of 82. His directorship of the Peace Information Center (PIC), which advocated nuclear disarmament, would get him declared a foreign agent. Turning to communism, even as Khrushchev disclosed the Stalin-era crimes and Soviet atrocities, he exiled himself to West Africa. The timing seemed ironic. The American civil rights revolution was just gathering force.

This vast collection of the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois is organized under 15 headings to reflect the philosophical shifts and changes in a long and contradictory life. Each section is introduced by Lewis with commentary on where Du Bois stood historically in relation to issues of race and, where appropriate, elucidating on the issues. Lewis's selections from the Du Bois opus arise from a vast and confident knowledge. Students of race and the civil rights movement in American history will want to add this remarkable collection of Du Bois's essential writings to their library. -Hollis GiammatteoBook Description
The essential writings of Du Bois have been selected and edited by David Levering Lewis, his Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Reveals The DuBois you Didn't Know
Most Black History fans think they have DuBois figured out. You either hate him for his haughtiness and elitism or you love his militant stands. This collection of DuBois' writings shows that the truth was somewhere in between. We see DuBois change his mind on Marcus Garvey and the elitist "Talented Tenth" idea. We see DuBois evolve from Integrationism to Black Nationalism to Communism. We basically see a man who is not afraid to change his ideas and admit his errors, a very human and complex man. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of W(illiam) E(dward) B(urghardt) Du Bois, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 4788 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Customer Reviews (2)

Slow, Tedious Over-Detailed Writing...But Read It Anyway
I really wanted to like this book...I really did. And it's not really that bad. DuBois grants us a very revealing look at his young life, along with his education and intellectual development. His early observations and analysis of life are insightful and thought provoking.Still his writing lacks pace and fails to flow in any way other than tediously.Despite being regarded by many as one of the great men of the 20th century, his memoirs grant little to convey that greatness and leaves the reader unfulfilled at truly grasping his many accomplishments.However, DuBois' revelations regarding the N.A.A.C.P. are very interesting, and one of the better parts of the book.If you have plenty of time to spare (it's over 400 pages long) you may attain more from it than this reviewer did.

"One of the greatest thinkers ever"
This book should be read by everyone who is interested in civil rights.Dubois was the pioneer of the civil rights movement and anything he had to say deserves to be read.This book is just as important as the Autobiographies of both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.After readingthis book I realized what bravery was all about.Dubois didn't have theluxury of a "movement" behind him, he stood alone.He spoke hismind to whomever he felt was hindering the progress of blacks in America. Not only did he stand alone and speak his mind but he did it in a time whena black man would be lynched simply for looking at a white person the wrongway.This book is written with the same poetic style as most of his otherwork and continues the story of his battle against oppression where"Souls of Black Folk", and "Darkwater" leave off.Youwill definately benefit by taking the time to read the almost century longjourney of one of the greatest thinkers and writers the world has everseen. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
The problem of "the color line," W.E.B. Du Bois's ever-presentpolemical theme, is at the core of this novel of sensual love, radicalpolitics, and the quest for racial justice. Originally published byHarcourt Brace and Co. in 1928, Dark Princess was one of two novelswritten by Du Bois. Toward the end of his life he ranked it as his favoriteof all his works.

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

The reviewer for the New York Herald Tribune found "amidst much pureromance and preciosity of style there are rich deposits of straightsociology [as well as] interesting and revealing reading [for] the whitereader who has yet few ways of looking into the many closed chambers ofNegro life or of seeing into the dilemmas of the intellectual Negro mindand heart." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

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

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good to have in print easy to read.
I am pleased that this book is available in a print that I can easily read.

A must read, even if you have to read it again and again
This book took me on a deep journey.Granted it may take most more than giving it a once over, but if you spend the time and effort to really get to know the book, and research exactly what the author is saying it is well worth the time that you took to understand it.A great read, and will challenge even the most agile mind.

From aCollege Sophmore POV
I had to read this book for my African Diasopra class and I had to read most of the lines twice because I didn't understand it. I have read the whole thing at least once and still have little to say of the contents. The afterword, however, was most helpful. It must have some really powerful words in it, but the sentence structure threw me off too much to understand. ... Read more

Amazon.com
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) is the greatest of African American intellectuals--a sociologist, historian, novelist, and activist whose astounding career spanned the nation's history from Reconstruction to the civil rights movement. Born in Massachusetts and educated at Fisk, Harvard, and the University of Berlin, Du Bois penned his epochal masterpiece, The Souls of Black Folk, in 1903. It remains his most studied and popular work; its insights into Negro life at the turn of the 20th century still ring true.

With a dash of the Victorian and Enlightenment influences that peppered his impassioned yet formal prose, the book's largely autobiographical chapters take the reader through the momentous and moody maze of Afro-American life after the Emancipation Proclamation: from poverty, the neoslavery of the sharecropper, illiteracy, miseducation, and lynching, to the heights of humanity reached by the spiritual "sorrow songs" that birthed gospel and the blues. The most memorable passages are contained in "On Booker T. Washington and Others," where Du Bois criticizes his famous contemporary's rejection of higher education and accommodationist stance toward white racism: "Mr. Washington's programme practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races," he writes, further complaining that Washington's thinking "withdraws many of the high demands of Negroes as men and American citizens." The capstone of The Souls of Black Folk, though, is Du Bois' haunting, eloquent description of the concept of the black psyche's "double consciousness," which he described as "a peculiar sensation.... One ever feels this twoness--an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder." Thanks to W.E.B. Du Bois' commitment and foresight--and the intellectual excellence expressed in this timeless literary gem--black Americans can today look in the mirror and rejoice in their beautiful black, brown, and beige reflections. --Eugene Holley Jr. Book Description
"The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line."  Thus speaks W.E.B. Du Bois in The Souls Of Black Folk, one of the most prophetic and influental works in American literature.  In this eloquent collection of essays, first published in 1903, Du Bois dares as no one has before to describe the magnitude of American racism and demand an end to it.  He draws on his own life for illustration, from his early experiences teaching in the hills of Tennessee to the death of his infant son and his historic break with the conciliatory position of Booker T. Washington.



Far ahead of its time, The Souls Of Black Folk both anticipated and inspired much of the black conciousness and activism of the 1960's and is a classic in the literature of civil rights.  The elegance of DuBois's prose and the passion of his message are as crucial today as they were upon the book's first publication.Download Description
First published in 1903, this eloquent collection of essays exposed the magnitude of racism in society. The book endures today as a classic document of American and political history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (44)

The Souls of a Fallen People...
Mr. DuBois gave a harsh reality on the struggles of the African American people. He left no stone unturned and no points missed.

Great W.E.B .DUBOIS
I love this book. It is part of the best of the works of the great W.E.B. DUBOIS. My active reading of this book expanded my knowledge more on what it takes to be a blackman in America. It is a piece of identification that everyblack person in America is looking to verify about their race in the U.S.
It's a great book.

The Soul Of All Folk:
"The Soul Of Black Folk" Is a book I think everyone should read regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, color, or creed simply because there's something in it for all. W.E.B. Dubois' engaging book falls more inline with the panorama of all American experiences, not just the Black experiences alone: if that makes any sense?
This fine book was originally published in 1903 and is still a significant piece of literature today. The anecdotes that are shared in this book belong in the lexicon of American history, but what's most striking are Dubois' references to Negro music called the sorrow songs, which of course spanned through hundreds of years of sanguineous slavery. And it was these same songs that set the foundation of Gospel, the Blues, Rock n Roll, and the American dream.
The reason I'm using this terminology is because in-spite of the torture blacks suffered they still managed to sing amazing songs such as "Steal Away," and "Poor Rosy." (Some songs were in reference to allegorical content).
Furthermore, the British rock-band Led Zeppelin is a fine example of individual intellectualism insofar as embracing American Negro culture considering they were influenced by this book because in 1968, Led Zeppelin's first album debuted and not only did they cover blues favorites written by Willie Dixon, but they also covered Negro spirituals, which Du Bois referred to as the "Sorrow Songs."
Led Zeppelin's song "How Many More Times" is an opus of Negro "Sorrow Songs." It's amazing that it took the bluesy cadence of an English rock band to pay homage to the very people whose hardship and strife inspired them to borrow the lyrics and the music from this book. It's a wonderful sight to see when people like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant take the time to learn about Black Americanism and about themselves. It just goes to show that all Americans should embrace their African heritage because without acknowledging the Black experience it's impossible to be a true American.
It's upsetting to note that in today's America racism is so rampant that the subject of Rock n Roll history can't even be encroached upon like it was in the 1960's civil rights movement, due to the fact that the political language has significantly changed.
(In layman's terms we can't be honest with ourselves and discuss the sheer fact that racism still dictates our everyday lives simply because the corporate world creates the phony left/right paradigm and ad-hominems through the media, which leaves America with an erroneous history).
Anyway, music played a major role during the 1960's. It helped people prosper through the horrific struggle for independence. The poetry that the slaves introduced over two-hundred years ago would yet again set the recalcitrant atmosphere that was needed when Blacks won the right to vote in 1965. And it was that moment in history that systemic change began. It was almost like an ancestral eidolon cascading over America with the strength and perseverance of a god in love with his people.

Moreover, Dubois elaborates on many subject matter with a linguistic style coming across as the perfect salubrious prolepsis for today's readers.

Sorry to digress, but another high point in the book was Dubois' rebuttal to Booker T. Washington's bourgeois attitude. Even today many Black scholars quote Booker T, but the inquiry was...is that wise? Well, according to Dubois, promulgating Booker T's message was rather pernicious and would only lead to more draconian virulence. Booker T's stance on waiting for White America to become simpatico to the needs of the Negro, while hoping for acceptance to proliferate from them in due time was not realistic at all.
Dubois strongly felt that Booker T's ideas were a depravity, a mummery, and an insult. Waiting for the bully to stop picking on you never works; for some reason Booker T couldn't contemplate that this scenario he was promulgating was ambiguous. If the powers that be are unwilling to negotiate with you then you have no other recourse but recalcitrancy. Booker T was in favor of slow progression, but just imagine what America would be like if Blacks took on Booker T's mindset? Life would be very different that's for sure.
Dubois hits on many touching moments in his memoirs and the personal lives of his students, which everyone reading this will enjoy. "The Soul Of Black Folk" is required reading for all. Give this book a chance! Dubois' writings are an inspirational experience!

souls of black folk
was worthless...was not the correct match for my class book requirement.Never used it...if someone wants it you can have it for free

Post (US) Slavery understanding
Important literature that tells of post emancipation United States and the problem of the color line. Perspective amazing. ... Read more

Book Description
'The problem of the twentieth-century is the problem of the color-line.'Originally published in 1903, The Souls of Black Folk is a classic study of race, culture, and education at the turn of the twentieth century. With its singular combination of essays, memoir, and fiction, this book vaulted W. E. B. Du Bois to the forefront of American political commentary and civil rights activism.The Souls of Black Folk is an impassioned, at times searing account of the situation of African Americans in the United States. Du Bois makes a forceful case for the access of African Americans to higher education, memorably extols the achievements of black culture (above all the spirituals or 'sorrow songs'), and advances the provocative and influential argument that due to the inequalities and pressures of the 'race problem', African American identity is characterized by 'double consciousness'.This edition includes a valuable appendix of other writing by Du Bois, which sheds light on his attitudes and intentions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Understand "double counsciousness"
This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities.William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (February 23, 1868 - August 27, 1963) was an American civil rights activist, leader, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar.He became a naturalized citizen of Ghana in 1963 at the age of 95.David Levering Lewis, a biographer, wrote, "In the course of his long, turbulent career, W.E.B. Du Bois attempted virtually every possible solution to the problem of twentieth-century racism--scholarship, propaganda, integration, cultural and economic separatism, politics, international communism, expatriation, third world solidarity.After graduating from Fisk University in 1888, Du Bois took a bachelor's degree cum laude from Harvard College in 1890 (Harvard having refused to recognize the equivalency of his Fisk degree), and in 1892 received a stipend to attend the University of Berlin. While a student in Berlin, he travelled extensively throughout Europe, and came of age intellectually while studying with some of the most prominent social scientists in the German capital, such as Gustav von Schmoller.In 1896, Du Bois became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University.After teaching at Wilberforce University in Ohio and the University of Pennsylvania, he established the department of sociology at Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University).

"The Souls of Black Folk" is the most well-known work of African-American W.E.B. Du Bois, a writer, leader, and civil rights activist. The book, published in 1903, contains several essays on race, some of which had been previously published in Atlantic Monthly magazine.Du Bois drew from his own experiences to develop this groundbreaking work on being African-American in American society.Outside of its notable place in African-American history, The Souls of Black Folk also holds an important place in social science as one of the first works to deal with sociology.In Living Black History, (p. 96) esteemed scholar and Du Bois biographer Manning Marable makes the following observation about the book: "Few books make history and fewer still become foundational texts for the movements and struggles of an entire people. The Souls of Black Folk occupies this rare position.It helped to create the intellectual argument for the black freedom struggle in the twentieth century.Souls justified the pursuit of higher education for Negroes and thus contributed to the rise of the black middle class.By describing a global color-line, Du Bois anticipated pan-Africanism and colonial revolutions in the Third World. Moreover, this stunning critique of how 'race' is lived through the normal aspects of daily life is central to what would become known as 'whiteness studies' a century later."

For Du Bois the problem of 20th century is problem of color line.Concept of double consciousness is looking thru eyes of others.Notion of authenticity what does it mean to be authentic?His idea is very Freudian.Du Bois says authenticity is a longing for Blacks, but impossible because blacks can't be authentic have to live another way.Cornell West says Du Bois is a pragmatist.He is connected to the Harlem Renaissance.Paul Gilroy says Du Bois is more connected with Pan Africanism experience of displaced Africans around the world.What does he mean "souls of Black folk"?It is a metaphor for spirituality.Book is meant to provide progress for black folks.Freedman's bureau had some success like schools.He had issue with B. T. Washington populist message of wanting blacks to concentrate on jobs not the vote, higher education, or civil rights.Du Bois resents Booker T. Washington as spokesperson for blacks.Critiques American materialism. Standard of human culture and lofty ideals of life, the talented tenth.Book is pioneering for 6 reasons: 1. Identification of hyphenated self.2. Recognition of Black culture like music, the Blues vernacular culture.The soul of the nation itself, West says musically is key to text, it "sings" the "sorrow song" is motif of life.3.Important to Harlem renaissance period.4.Pioneering work of sociology and psychology.5.Higher education is means to self realization.6.Relations to economics drives development of black life.

Double consciousness.His double consciousness gives us a vivid picture of how tragic the racist discourse is, defined by skin color.Black or white thus it strengthens arguments that each race had unique properties thus polarizing us.His book gives us this understanding of our mind and self identity.If Blacks accept the racial divide they then deny equality.He does see a black identity and celebrates difference made real in Black experience.Celebrates difference made real in peoples experience and beyond our racial fictions.How does he do this, what is the key?It is music the "sorrows song."Those voicings, these songs speak to slow tragedy.He precedes each chapter with sorrow song.The doubleness of consciousness is extended throughout the work.They convey resistance and defiance.Last chapter how prejudiceworks on people.Whiteness is non race.The great chain of being, your place in society.Rise of Enlightenment human is now sovereign leads to systematic study of man.

Du Bois was investigated by the FBI, who claimed in May of 1942 that "his writing indicates him to be a socialist," and that he "has been called a Communist and at the same time criticized by the Communist Party."Du Bois visited Communist China during the Great Leap Forward. Also, in the 16 March 1953 issue of The National Guardian, Du Bois wrote "Joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature."Du Bois was chairman of the Peace Information Center at the start of the Korean War.He was among the signers of the Stockholm Peace Pledge, which opposed the use of nuclear weapons.In 1950, he ran for the U.S. Senate on the American Labor Party ticket in New York and received 4% of the vote.He was indicted in the United States under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and acquitted for lack of evidence.W.E.B. Du Bois became disillusioned with both black capitalism and racism in the United States.In 1959, Du Bois received the Lenin Peace Prize.In 1961, at the age of 93, he joined the Communist Party USA.

Du Bois was invited to Ghana in 1961 by President Kwame Nkrumah to direct the Encyclopedia Africana, a government production, and a long-held dream of his.When, in 1963, he was refused a new U.S. passport, he and his wife, Shirley Graham Du Bois, became citizens of Ghana, making them dual citizens of Ghana and the United States.Du Bois' health had declined in 1962, and on August 27, 1963, he died in Accra, Ghana at the age of ninety-five, one day before Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, or philosophy.

... Read more

Book Description
Biography of America's great sociologist and educator, who lived from1868 to 1963. A major force in the Civil Rights Movement and for human rights around the world.Beautifully illustrated in full color by David H. Huckins, who was student at the time the book was published. Foreward is by past President of the NAACP, Benjamin L. Hooks Ages 10 to adult ... Read more

Book Description
The Oxford W.E.B. Du Bois Reader encompasses the whole of Du Bois's long and multifaceted writing career, from the 1890s through the early 1960s. The volume selects key essays and longer works that portray the range of Du Bois's thought on such subjects as African American culture, the politics and sociology of American race relations, art and music, black leadership, gender and women's rights, Pan-Africanism and anti-colonialism, and Communism in the U.S. and abroad.Chronologically, the volume stretches from definitive early essays such as "The Conservation of Races" to later works such as "Africa and World Peace" and "Gandhi and the American Negro." Du Bois's most famous book, The Souls of Black Folk (1903), and his landmark work on colonialism, Darkwater (1920), which contains many of his best-known shorter essays, such as "The African Roots of the War," "On Being Black," and "The Burden of Black Women," are both printed in their entirety. Key chapters drawn from full-length studies, including The Philadelphia Negro, The Gift of Black Folk, Black Reconstruction, Dusk of Dawn, The World and Africa, In Battle for Peace, and Du Bois's posthumous autobiography are supplemented by dozens of shorter essays covering topics in literature, education, African politics, urban studies, and American foreign policy. Individual essays and selections from longer works also illustrate Du Bois's skillful biographical studies of historical figures such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, Phillis Wheatley, Abraham Lincoln, and John Brown, as well as contemporaries like Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, Paul Robeson, and Joseph Stalin. Supplemented by an extensive critical introduction and headnotes to major works and topics, theOxford Reader offers the most extensive compilation of Du Bois's writings now available. ... Read more

Book Description

Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim are widely recognized as the trinity of sociological theory. While these three sociologists were trailblazing social theorists who enhanced the study of human behavior and its relationship to social institutions, other, more contemporary scholars were just as innovative - one of those scholars being W. E. B. Du Bois.

W. E. B. Du Bois was a political and literary giant of the 20th century, publishing over twenty books and thousand of essays and articles throughout his life. In The Social Theory of W. E. B. Du Bois, editor Phil Zuckerman assembles Du Boiss work from a wide variety of sources, including articles Du Bois published in newspapers, speeches he delivered, selections from well-known classics such as The Souls of Black Folk and Darkwater, and lesser-known, hard-to-find material written by this revolutionary social theorist.

W. E. B Du Bois is arguably one of the most imaginative, perceptive, and prolific founders of the sociological discipline. In addition to leading the Pan-African movement and being an activist for civil rights for African Americans, Du Bois was a pioneer of urban sociology, an innovator of rural sociology, a leader in criminology, the first American sociologist of religion, and most notably the first great social theorist of race. The Social Theory of W. E. B. Du Bois is the first book to examine Du Boiss writings from a sociological perspective and emphasize his theoretical contributions. This volume covers topics such as the meaning of race, race relations, international relations, economics, labor, politics, religion, crime, gender, and education.

The Social Theory of W. E. B. Du Bois offers an excellent introduction to the sociological theory of one of the 20th centurys intellectual beacons. It is a dynamic text for undergraduate and graduate students studying sociological theory, African American studies, and race and ethnicity.

Customer Reviews (1)

Greatest Sociologist who ever lived?
I had heard of Du Bois -- but I just thought he was a "black writer" -- a man of letters who had written some books. I had no idea that he was a founding sociologist. The intro to this volume is illuminating and passionate. It goes into great detail about Du Bois as a pioneering sociologist -- frankly, as a major in sociology, I was stunned. This man had been totally ignored for WAY too long.
The actual chapters/selections are profound, varied, and as timely as ever. Du Bois's grasp of international politics and global exploitation were ground-breaking. His views on race and gender were way ahead of his time. I hope that this volume is read by more sociology students. He's a heck of a lot better than Durkheim or Weber, that's for sure. ... Read more