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A review by sjgrodsky
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
Did not finish book.
5.0
Goodreads lists only one edition of this classic. I read a different edition, the Modern Library imprint, with an introduction by David Levering Lewis.
You might notice that I gave the book the highest possible rating but didn't finish it. What gives?
The five stars recognize DuBois for the fantastic prose stylist that he is. Only Rachel Carson (different gender, different subject matter, different era) can match DuBois for prose that's nearly poetry. My favorite of the essays begins "Once upon a time I taught school in the hills of Tennessee, where the broad dark veil of the Mississippi begins to roll and crumble to meet the Alleghenies."
Can you write like that? I can't.
My two favorite essays were this memoir of his schoolteacher days (called "Of the Meaning of Progress") and his VERY polite, painstakingly fair minded denunciation of Booker T Washington's accommodationist strategy ("Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others"). DuBois gives Washington every possible credit before denouncing his strategy with these eloquent words: "By every civilized and peaceful method we must strive for the rights which the world accords to men..."
So. The best parts are very very good. And there are others parts: sexist, dated, irrelevant. Parts that weren't worth my time and that I didn't finish.
The editor should have given context. And the book designer should have put the name of each essay in the top heading. Because we already know the name of the book.
You might notice that I gave the book the highest possible rating but didn't finish it. What gives?
The five stars recognize DuBois for the fantastic prose stylist that he is. Only Rachel Carson (different gender, different subject matter, different era) can match DuBois for prose that's nearly poetry. My favorite of the essays begins "Once upon a time I taught school in the hills of Tennessee, where the broad dark veil of the Mississippi begins to roll and crumble to meet the Alleghenies."
Can you write like that? I can't.
My two favorite essays were this memoir of his schoolteacher days (called "Of the Meaning of Progress") and his VERY polite, painstakingly fair minded denunciation of Booker T Washington's accommodationist strategy ("Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others"). DuBois gives Washington every possible credit before denouncing his strategy with these eloquent words: "By every civilized and peaceful method we must strive for the rights which the world accords to men..."
So. The best parts are very very good. And there are others parts: sexist, dated, irrelevant. Parts that weren't worth my time and that I didn't finish.
The editor should have given context. And the book designer should have put the name of each essay in the top heading. Because we already know the name of the book.