Williams convincingly renders Du Bois as a tragic figure whose optimism was dashed by the intransigence of racism, adding poignancy to a story about the limits and fragility of American democracy. an account of failure that nonetheless succeeds in bringing Du Bois's brilliance, 'formidable ego' and many contradictions to light." - Douglas Field, Times Literary Supplement Details personalize the narrative, which is one of remarkable dedication. "Drawing on extensive archives, Williams skillfully pieces together the book that Du Bois could not finish. Specialists and general readers alike will profit from Williams’s sensitive reconstruction of the most challenging period, ethically and politically, of Du Bois’s long life." - Vaughn Rasberry, The Washington Post
judging his subject, instead allowing Du Bois’s biography to unfold in all its messy, captivating, inspiring complexity. By rendering this story in such rich archival detail, Williams’s book is a fitting coda to Du Bois’s unfinished history of Black Americans and the First World War." - Matthew Delmont, The New York Times In uncovering what happened to Du Bois’s largely forgotten book, Williams offers a captivating reminder of the importance of World War I, why it mattered to Du Bois, and why it continues to matter today. The surprising story of this unpublished book offers new insight into Du Bois’s struggles to reckon with both the history and the troubling memory of the war, along with the broader meanings of race and democracy for Black people in the twentieth century.ĭrawing on a broad range of sources, most notably Du Bois’s unpublished manuscript and research materials, Williams tells a sweeping story of hope, betrayal, disillusionment, and transformation, setting into motion a fresh understanding of the life and mind of arguably the most significant scholar-activist in African American history. In The Wounded World, Chad Williams offers the dramatic account of Du Bois’s failed efforts to complete what would have been one of his most significant works. Seeking both intellectual clarity and personal atonement, for more than two decades Du Bois attempted to write the definitive history of Black participation in World War I. Du Bois, believing in the possibility of full citizenship and democratic change, encouraged African Americans to “close ranks” and support the Allied cause in World War I, he made a decision that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Du Bois's reckoning with the betrayal of Black soldiers during World War I- and a new understanding of one of the great twentieth-century writers.
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