The dramatic story of W. E. B. 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.
When
W. E. B. 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. 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. His book, however, remained unfinished.
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. 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unpublished book offers new insight into Du Bois’s struggles to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.
Drawing
on a broad range of sources, most notably Du Bois’s unpublished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
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.