Darkwater

Written in the aftermath of the First World War, this fierce and personal book mixes autobiography, essay, poetry, and prose-poem to confront the global color line. Du Bois moves from the story of his own life to searing meditations on white supremacy, the conflict between labor and capital, the exploitation of women, and the entanglement of racism with empire. Chapters such as ‘The Souls of White Folk’ and ‘The Damnation of Women’ still read as prophecy. Angrier and more radical than his earlier work, Darkwater speaks in many voices at once, spiritual and political, insisting that democracy means nothing while it is denied to the darker world. Free to download as a PDF or EPUB.