The Autobiography by W. E. B. Du Bois:
It's subtitled "A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of its First Century' and he wrote it when he was ninety. He died in 1963 at the age of ninety-five, and the book first appeared in English in 1968 for what would have been his hundredth birthday.
Du Bois was first African-American to earn a Ph. D. from Harvard (in Sociology) and did post-doctoral work in Germany, where he impressed (and was impressed by) Max Weber. He was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples, and edited their house magazine The Crisis. His most famous early book is The Souls of Black Folks. He eventually, though, gave up on the U.S. as unfixable, and died in Ghana.
Should be a fascinating read. Did you know him or the book? Did you get something good?

This should be a fascinating read!
ReplyDeleteI have high hopes!
DeleteOhhhhh, good one! I've only read excerpts in "readers" and anthologies and the like, but I've always wanted to read more. Looking forward to your thoughts!
ReplyDelete-Marcie
Am I going to be good and read (reread? maybe not the whole thing) The Souls of Black Folk first? Maybe!
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