Few books make history and fewer still become foundational texts for the struggles of an entire people. The Souls of Black Folk occupies this rare position. It anticipated many of the central questions of the twentieth century and makes the reader aware that current racial tensions have their roots in the failed effort to bring equality and justice to African Americans after the Civil War. It is the passionate and eloquent story of one man: W.E.B. Du Bois. Born William Edward Burghardt, Du Boi