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W.E.B. Du Bois: The Lost and the Found
W.E.B. Du Bois spent many decades fighting to ensure that African Americans could claim their place as full citizens and thereby fulfill the deeply compromised ideals of American democracy. Yet he died in Africa, having apparently given up on the United States.
In this tour-de-force, Elvira Basevich examines this paradox by tracing the development of his life and thought and the relevance of his legacy to our troubled age. She adroitly analyses the main concepts that inform Du Bois's critique of American democracy, such as the color line and double consciousness, before examining how these concepts might inform our understanding of contemporary struggles, from Black Lives Matter to the campaign for reparations for slavery. She stresses the continuity in Du Bois's thought, from his early writings to his later embrace of self-segregation and Pan-Africanism, while not shying away from assessing the challenging implications of his later work.
This wonderful book vindicates the power of Du Bois's thought to help transform a stubbornly unjust world. It is essential reading for racial justice activists as well as students of African American philosophy and political thought.
"Basevich has the surest feel for her protean subject that I've read in a long time."
David Levering Lewis, American historian and twice Pulitzer-Prize-winning biographer of Du Bois, Columbia University
"With the breadth of a biographer, the depth of a philosopher, and the vision of a poet, Elvira Basevich gives us a compelling elucidation of W.E.B. Du Bois' radical liberalism. This is essential reading for understanding why Du Bois still matters!"
Melvin Rogers, Brown University
"Unique among books on Du Bois, Basevich originally and persuasively presents a liberal ideal of civic enfranchisement as the heart of Du Bois' thought."
Chike Jeffers, Dalhousie University
"In a direct and accessible prose, linking philosophical abstraction with grassroots activism, Elvira Basevich brings us a Du Bois by no means merely a figure of historical importance but very much a thinker relevant for the social justice struggles of today."
Charles Mills, City University of New York
In this tour-de-force, Elvira Basevich examines this paradox by tracing the development of his life and thought and the relevance of his legacy to our troubled age. She adroitly analyses the main concepts that inform Du Bois's critique of American democracy, such as the color line and double consciousness, before examining how these concepts might inform our understanding of contemporary struggles, from Black Lives Matter to the campaign for reparations for slavery. She stresses the continuity in Du Bois's thought, from his early writings to his later embrace of self-segregation and Pan-Africanism, while not shying away from assessing the challenging implications of his later work.
This wonderful book vindicates the power of Du Bois's thought to help transform a stubbornly unjust world. It is essential reading for racial justice activists as well as students of African American philosophy and political thought.
"Basevich has the surest feel for her protean subject that I've read in a long time."
David Levering Lewis, American historian and twice Pulitzer-Prize-winning biographer of Du Bois, Columbia University
"With the breadth of a biographer, the depth of a philosopher, and the vision of a poet, Elvira Basevich gives us a compelling elucidation of W.E.B. Du Bois' radical liberalism. This is essential reading for understanding why Du Bois still matters!"
Melvin Rogers, Brown University
"Unique among books on Du Bois, Basevich originally and persuasively presents a liberal ideal of civic enfranchisement as the heart of Du Bois' thought."
Chike Jeffers, Dalhousie University
"In a direct and accessible prose, linking philosophical abstraction with grassroots activism, Elvira Basevich brings us a Du Bois by no means merely a figure of historical importance but very much a thinker relevant for the social justice struggles of today."
Charles Mills, City University of New York
288 pages, Hardcover
Published December 7, 2020
54 people want to read
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March 2, 2021
Equal parts biography, philosophy, and contemporary politics, this was a great overview of a figure I've wanted to know more about.
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