Chad Williams on The Wounded World
When W. E. B. Du Bois, believing in the possibility of full citizenship and democratic change, encouraged African Americans to \u201cclose ranks\u201d 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.\n\nIn The Wounded World, Chad Williams offers the dramatic account of Du Bois\u2019s 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 The surprising story of this unpublished book offers new insight into Du Bois\u2019s struggles to reckon with both the history and the troubling memory of the war, along with the broader meanings of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.\n\nJoin us when Chad Williams offers new insight into Du Bois\u2019s 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 on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.