W.E.B. Du Bois: Black Reconstruction: An Essay Toward a History of the Part whichBlack Folk Played in the Attempt to ReconstructDemocracy in America, 1860–1880

The classic book that fundamentally altered how we perceive the effects of the Civil War and the legacy of racism in America is now available in its definitive form.The now-classic Black Reconstruction by W.E.B. Du Bois gave a revolutionary new analysis of Reconstruction—and of American democracy itself—when it was first published in 1935. The post-Civil War era of political reorganisation in the country was a time when African American progress was met with a white supremacist backlash and ultimately gave way to the consolidation of the unjust social order of Jim Crow. Du Bois, one of the foremost African American thinkers and activists of the twentieth century, applied all of his intellectual prowess to this period.Black Reconstruction is a groundbreaking book of revisionist scholarship that was produced to disprove renowned historians whose racist viewpoints had distorted the historical record after the Encyclopedia Britannica censored Du Bois's description of Reconstruction. "The main witness in Reconstruction, the emancipated slave himself, has practically been denied access to the court, according to Du Bois. His written Reconstruction documentation has been largely lost and almost never cared for."In correcting the record, Du Bois wrote a book that co-editor Eric Foner referred to as "indispensable," a scholarly masterpiece that is also infused with genuine fury.Black Reconstruction is presented here for the first time with significant writings that trace Du Bois's thinking throughout his career about Reconstruction and its centrality in understanding the torturous course of democracy in America. The handsome and authoritative hardcover edition was created by Foner and co-editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Read more