W. E. B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963

From Barnes & Noble

W.E.B. Du Bois -- brilliant scholar, novelist, activist, statesman, founder of the NAACP, and the premier architect of the civil rights movement -- lived in a firestorm of controversy and change, dying on the eve of the historic 1963 March on Washington. Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Levering Lewis continues the saga of this extraordinary American's life and times in W. E. B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963, the second volume of his monumental and definitive biography.

From the Publisher

"Splendid. . . . A landmark of American scholarship. Lewis develops the most convincing portrayal ever written of Du Bois."—Michael R. Winston, The Washington Post

"Monumental. . . . A joy to read. A work of keen scholarship that will appeal to the general reader responsive to graceful, lucid prose by an author with an eye for ironic situations and complex emotions."—John Patrick Diggins, Los Angeles Times

"A stirring yet subtle portrait of a haughty intellectual colossus. Lewis again brings Du Bois to life with startling detail and judicious frankness."—Jack E. White, Time

"This second volume of Lewis's biography of Du Bois will undoubtedly become an instant classic and indispensable reading for anyone interested in the history of the twentieth century. The result of Lewis's prodigious research efforts is a magnificent reconstruction of the evolving contours of Du Bois's thought, his interactions with a host of black organizations and key political and intellectual figures, and his personal life."—Eric Amesen, Chicago Tribune

"I did not think it was possible for David Lewis to surpass what he had accomplished in the first volume of his Du Bois biography, but he has . . . . He confirms the view of many of us who believe that he is the finest American historian plying his craft today."—John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke Professor of History Emeritus at Duke University

"A masterpiece of the biographer's craft. With this volume, David Levering Lewis has brought to magnificent completion his definitive biography of W.E.B. Du Bois. Lewis writes with consistent empathy, balance, and grace about one of the twentieth century's most complicated and controversial figures. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the tortured history of race relations in the modern world."—David M. Kennedy, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History at Stanford University and author of Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize

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Anthony C. Davis

Du Bois is probably the most written about African American intellectual of the twentieth century. Countless books and articles have either praised or criticized, canonized or vilified Du Bois and his many theories. A new book in the flow of that continual discourse is Lewis' third, meticulously researched volume. Lewis interviewed over one hundred people on four continents. He also uses over one-hundred-and-seventeen pages of notes to explain the text-which clocks in at over five hundred words itself-concentrating on the last forty-four years of Du Bois' life. If all it took was in depth research to make a best seller, then this book would be in the top ten. However, one might ask if yet another book on Du Bois is what today's black reader is clamoring for; a recent library search turned up over 140 books already inked on the subject, including his own autobiography. Every few years researchers present previously unpublished works by Du Bois. With the real thing still being freshly printed, readers may wonder why they should get the information second-hand? Still, Du Bois wrote great studies himself on other people, and I might argue that one of the greatest social commentators of the 20th century deserves such in-depth examination. Lewis' last book on Du Bois (Biography of a Race, 1868-1919), was a National Book Award finalist and won him a Pulitzer Prize. This book takes up where that one left off, with disillusioned black soldiers returning from World War One. It also covers Du Bois' thoughts on the Harlem Renaissance, the Pan African movement, the Communist Party, women's rights, and the Civil Rights Movement. Written in an almost clinical style, it is not for the casual Du Bois fan. But the serious Du Bois scholar will instantly want to sit up and take notice.
— Black Issues Book Review

From The Critics

Du Bois (1868-1963), author of The Souls of Black Folk, sparked a firestorm of public controversy during his intellectual prime. "He stood on a pedestal occupied by no other American Negro," Lewis writes, "the senior intellectual of his race and its unexcelled propagandist." This second volume of Lewis' biography of Du Bois follows him from the Red Summer of 1919—in which seventy-six African-Americans were lynched—through his editorship of the NAACP's magazine, The Crisis, to his courting of Marxism, his eventual disillusionment with integration and, finally, his virtual exile in Ghana, where he died. The book pays as much attention to serious analysis of Du Bois' books, speeches and countless editorials as it does to the knotty complexities of Du Bois' quietly scandalous personal life (he had several long-term affairs). Although Du Bois was no saint, Lewis keeps his criticisms of the man on an intellectual level, pointing out the blatant hypocrisies of Du Bois' later, blind infatuation with the dictatorships of Russia and China. This is an authoritative biography of a complex man, whose writings, a combination of wit, rhetorical dash and intellect, exposed the vile underbelly of American racism.
—Chris Barsanti

Publishers Weekly

This second (and final) volume of Lewis's critically praised biography of one of the founders of the contemporary black civil rights movement and a champion of human rights around the world is as astute and superbly written as the first. Here, in the years after WWI, Lewis finds Du BoisDalready established as one of the most controversial, powerful and persuasive voices of the movement through such books as The Souls of Black Folk and his editorship of the highly influential journal of the NAACP, CrisisDfaced with spiraling white violence against African-Americans as race riots and lynchings increase. Lewis concentrates on Du Bois's attempt to guide the movement through the increasingly precarious complexities of U.S. politics and culture as he explicates such diverse issues as Du Bois's commitment to feminism and women's rights, his dedication to Pan Africanism and his expanding roles as an official and unofficial foreign ambassador for the U.S. government, all of which are controversial both within and outside of the civil rights movement. Lewis is especially adroit at interpreting the complications of Du Bois's personal and emotional life, including his long, though not especially companionable, marriage to his wife, Nina, and his series of "parallel marriages" to other women. The biography is at its most politically and intellectually gripping when it details the tensions and interplay between the NAACP and the American Communist Party during the notorious Scottsboro trial, and later when Arthur Schlesinger Jr. red-baited the civil rights group in an infamous article in Life. While readers will need to read Lewis' first volume to fully appreciate this one, his superb command of the complexity of his subject and time make this a major work of American biography and history. Lewis's two volume biography is not only a must-read for those fascinated by African-American history, but also holds powerful crossover appeal for anyone interested in the racial conflicts at the heart of 20th century American history. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Lewis has again analyzed the historical record with the utmost care to produce this second volume of his highly acclaimed 1993 biography (W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919) of the founder of the NAACP and Pan Africanist leader. Lewis simultaneously narrates the life and legacy of Du Bois and the competing racial, political, and cultural ideologies of the time, which fed Du Bois's tireless activism, writings, and intellect. Salient issues include colonialism, civil rights, women's rights, affirmative action, the peace movement, multicultural education, labor, and more. While it would be easy to heap endless praise on the towering 20th-century American leader and thinker, Lewis should be commended for presenting a balanced, sophisticated portrait of the contradictions that marked Du Bois's private and public lives, not to mention U.S. policies and practices. A masterly reconstruction of the past, this book deserves shelf space in every library.--Sherri L. Barnes, Univ. of California Lib., Santa Barbara Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Richard Lingeman

[In the] second volume of his distinguished biography . . . Lewis has given us Du Bois's life in all its multiple facets and ideological complexities. The historical background he sketches in provides informative context; his prose is vigorous, colorful.
—New York Times Book Review

Sandra White

W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919 - 1963 is a stirring yet subtle portrait of a haughty intellectual colossus.
— Time

Alan Brinkley

Lewis's extraordinary biography makes clear, transcends his (Du Bois) many failings.
—The New Republic

Kirkus Reviews

Picking up where he left off seven years ago, Lewis ( Linebaugh, Peter & Marcus Rediker THE MANY-HEADED HYDRA: The Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic Beacon (432 pp.) Oct. 2000