W. E. B. Du Bois and American Political Thought Fabianism and the Color Line

by Reed, Adolph L.

• ISBN13: 9780195130980
• ISBN10: 0195130987
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-02-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In this explosive book, Adolph Reed covers for the first time the full sweep and totality of W. E. B. Du Bois's political thought. Departing from existing scholarship, Reed locates the sources of Du Bois's thought in the cauldron of reform-minded intellectual life at the turn of the century, demonstrating that a commitment to liberal collectivism, an essentially Fabian socialism, remained pivotal in Du Bois's thought even as he embraced a range of political programs over time, including radical Marxism. He remaps the history of twentieth-century progressive thought and sharply criticizing recent trends in Afro-American, literary, and cultural studies.

Author Biography

Adolph Reed, Jr. is Professor of African-American Studies and Political Science at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Du Bois--Afro-American and American Political Thought	p. 3
Corporate Industrialization, Collectivism, and the New Intellectuals: Historical Context in the Formation of Du Bois's Thought	p. 15
The Philadelphia Negro and the Consolidation of a Worldview	p. 27
Science and Progress: The Unity of Scholarship and Activism	p. 43
Stratification, Leadership, and Organization: The Role of the Black Elite	p. 53
Three Confusions about Du Bois: Interracialism, Pan-Africanism, Socialism	p. 71
Du Bois's "Double Consciousness": Race and Gender in Progressive-Era American Thought	p. 93
"Tradition" and Ideology in Black Intellectual Life	p. 127
From Historiography to Class Ideology	p. 163
Conclusion: A Generativist Approach to the History of Political Thought	p. 177
Notes	p. 187
References	p. 243
Index	p. 276
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