The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois
The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois
List: $11.99 | Sale: $8.40
Club: $5.99

The Souls of Black Folk

Author: W.E.B. Du Bois, Ronald Riley

Narrator: Brock Walter

Unabridged: 7 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/31/2018

Synopsis

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 life at the turn of the 20th century still ring true.

This landmark book is a founding work in the literature of black protest. W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) played a key role in developing the strategy and program that dominated early 20th-century black protest in America. In this collection of essays, first published together in 1903, he eloquently affirms that it is beneath the dignity of a human being to beg for those rights that belong inherently to all mankind. He also charges that the strategy of accommodation to white supremacy advanced by Booker T. Washington, then the most influential black leader in America, would only serve to perpetuate black oppression.

Publication of The Souls of Black Folk was a dramatic event that helped to polarize black leaders into two groups: the more conservative followers of Washington and the more radical supporters of aggressive protest. Its influence cannot be overstated. It is essential reading for everyone interested in African-American history and the struggle for civil rights in America.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill on June 29, 2020

While reading Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me, I asked myself whether any other book offered such penetrating insight into the black experience in equally impressive prose. The first name that came to me was The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois. The Souls of Black Folk was published......more

Goodreads review by B. P. on January 27, 2024

"I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black, Because the sun hath looked upon me: My mother's children were angry with me; They made me the keeper of the vineyards; But mine own vineyard have I not kept." - So......more

Goodreads review by mark on May 07, 2023

an imperfect book, made perfect by its imperfections. perfection is cold; this is a warm book, hot at times. complex and flawed and all too human; anger and mourning and judgment doled out in equal measures. Du Bois' sad and often seething voice rings from the page. surprisingly lush and stylized pr......more

Goodreads review by Roy on June 15, 2016

W.E.B. Du Bois was many things: pioneering social scientist, historian, activist, social critic, writer—and, most of all, a heck of a lot smarter than me. I say this because, while reading these essays, I had the continuous, nagging feeling of mental strain, which I found hard to account for. There......more

Goodreads review by Paul on February 21, 2025

The soul and strength of Black America, and the travails and injustices confronting Black Americans, come through with undeniable force in W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk (1903). This collection of essays is every bit as powerful in its examination of American racism as it was when it was f......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List