false <![CDATA[The Souls of Black Folk (Penguin Classics)]]> 318742 92 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, <I>The Souls of Black Folk</I>, 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.<p> 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 <I>The Souls of Black Folk</I>, 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. <I>--Eugene Holley Jr.</I> 1137159 book 1903 The Souls of Black Folk (Penguin Classics) total:1631|5:608|4:625|3:327|2:62|1:9| 1631 6654 2534 128 3 2 false false Sat Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 18:51:28 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 11:49:50 -0800 2009 2 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 04 11:59:57 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 01:23:54 -0700 2007
This collection of short essays was written in 1903 and basically changed the way people thought and talked about race in America. DuBois broke down the notion of a scientific explanation for racism and racial bigotry. He essentially went to the University of Atlanta to ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Mar 13 08:32:35 -0700 2007 Tue Mar 13 08:37:45 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Dec 27 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 06:51:05 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 07:06:34 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 06:21:04 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 06:54:29 -0700 2009 1

One of his central criticisms of Booker T. is his over-emphasis of the individual responsibility of the "Negroes" to lift themselves out of "degradation" at the expense of ignori...

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DuBois was the first to suggest that Reconstruction failed not because Blacks failed, but because justice's promise was aborted. The North lost patience with the slow pace of progress and the low profits and left. The South remained essentially the same- a land ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jun 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 17:45:54 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 10:02:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 19:46:42 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 21:54:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Mar 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Nov 06 04:29:53 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 21 15:32:22 -0700 2009
As an aside, the reader for this particula...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Sep 27 13:15:06 -0700 2007 Fri Dec 28 12:54:50 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 20 06:53:40 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 09 20:52:10 -0700 2008 Up From Slavery. I agree with Du Bois far more than Washington, but Washingtonw as far more interesting to read (probably because he was so flawed).

Du Bois was brilliant, and as far as I can tell...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 08 16:22:29 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 06 11:21:36 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 08 16:22:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=318742