The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois Reader

Good value for the money and hope the proceeds are going to a good cause. I found the book very inspiring especially for someone like myself who is unfamiliar with the self- empowerment that is necessary in the USA.

WEB Du Bois was the greatest African-American intellectual. He studied in Harvard and Berlin, and his life as a human rights activist spans seventy years. Never afraid to adapt to changing times and social evolution, Du Bois was hated by those who saw him as an "uppity Negro" who didn't know his place.He disagreed strongly with what he saw as Booker Washington's acceptance of African-American subordination to White society, but he initially ridiculed Marcus Garvey's ideas of Black nationalism and a return to Africa.Du Bois wanted African-Americans fully integrated as equals in American societyDu Bois was a sociologist before people knew what sociology was. He campaigned for equal rights and promoted black militancy, but this later became a fervent fight for the well-being of all oppressed humanity. He came to question the very foundations of the capitalist system upon which American society had been built, and ended his life as a Ghanaian citizen and friend of Kwame Nkrumah. Du Bois died in Africa the day before Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech in Washington. King acknowledged how much he owed to Du Bois.This book is a very useful introduction to the ideas of a man who had an outstanding command of the written language, and a passion to use his talents for the cause of human progress.The book contains excepts from all of Du Bois' writings from the 1890s through to the 1960s, plus two full-length works, "The Souls of Black Folks" and "Darkwater".Recommended for all students of American history, Pan-Africanism, sociology, and progressive politics.