"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
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.
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.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 2.64
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780451532053
Book Description Condition: New. Brand New. Seller Inventory # 9780451532053
Book Description Mass Market Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # BKZN9780451532053
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. First published in 1903, this extraordinary work not only recorded and explained history-it helped alter its course. Written after Du Bois had earned his Ph.D. from Harvard and studied in Berlin, these fourteen essays contain both the academic language of sociology and the rich lyricism of African spirituals, which Du Bois called "sorrow songs."Often revealingly autobiographical, DuBois explores topics as diverse as the death of his infant son and the politics of Booker T. Washington. In every essay, he shows the consequences of both a political color line and an internal one, as he grapples with the contradictions of being black and being American. One of our country's most influential books, The Souls of Black Folk reflects the mind of a visionary who inspired generations of readers to remember the past, question the status quo, and fight for a just tomorrow.With an Introduction by Randall Kenanand an Afterword by Cheryl Townsend Gilkes First published in 1903 and one of our country's most influential books, "The Souls of Black Folk" reflects the mind of a visionary who inspired generations of readers to remember the past, question the status quo, and fight for a just tomorrow. Revised reissue. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780451532053
Book Description Condition: New. . Seller Inventory # 52GZZZ00UHND_ns
Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # WB-9780451532053
Book Description mass_market. Condition: New. Reprint. Product DescriptionFirst published in 1903, this extraordinary work not only recorded and explained history-it helped alter its course. Written after Du Bois had earned his Ph.D. from Harvard and studied in Berlin, these fourteen essays contain both the academic language of sociology and the rich lyricism of African spirituals, which Du Bois called "sorrow songs."Often revealingly autobiographical, DuBois explores topics as diverse as the death of his infant son and the politics of Booker T. Washington. In every essay, he shows the consequences of both a political color line and an internal one, as he grapples with the contradictions of being black and being American. One of our country's most influential books, The Souls of Black Folk reflects the mind of a visionary who inspired generations of readers to remember the past, question the status quo, and fight for a just tomorrow.With an Introduction by Randall Kenanand an Afterword by Cheryl Townsend GilkesAbout the AuthorWilliam Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. A brilliant student and natural leader, he experienced little prejudice during his early years; it was while attending Fisk, a Southern university for Negroes, that the young Du Bois first fully awoke to the realities of race in America. His response was to make the cause of the black people his own. After graduation from Fisk, he earned his Ph.D. from Harvard, studied in Berlin, and became one of the great pioneer sociologists. In 1903, The Souls of Black Folk appeared. This prophetic masterpiece was but the beginning of a long, often lonely crusade that saw Du Bois forced into an increasingly radical position in his search for a solution to the American racial dilemma. His final years were marked by disillusionment with his native land, renunciation of his citizenship, and final self-exile in Ghana, where he died in 1963, while working on an Encyclopedia Africana.Randall Kenan is the author of the critically acclaimed collection of stories Let the Dead Bury their Dead (a New York Times Notable book) and the novel A Visitation of Spirits, as well as a number of works of nonfiction. Among his many awards and honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers Award, and the North Carolina Award for Literature. He is Associate Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Cheryl Townsend Gilkes is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of African American Studies and sociology and the director of the African American Studies Program at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. She is also an assistant pastor for special projects at the Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She holds degrees in sociology from Northeastern University (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.) and has pursued graduate theological study at Boston University.Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.CHAPTER IOF OUR SPIRITUAL STRIVINGSO water, voice of my heart, crying in the sand,All night long crying with a mournful cry,As I lie and listen, and cannot understandThe voice of my heart in my side or the voice of the sea,O water, crying for rest, is it I, is it I?All night long the water is crying to me.Unresting water, there shall never be restTill the last moon droop and the last tide fail,And the fire of the end begin to burn in the west;And the heart shall be weary and wonder and cry like the sea,All life long crying without avail,As the water all night long is crying to me.Aarthur symonsBetween me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsvil. Seller Inventory # BKZN9780451532053
Book Description Condition: New. pp. 256. Seller Inventory # 263534778
Book Description Mass Market. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 2580981