W E B Du Bois was a political and literary giant of the 20th century, publishing over twenty books and thousand of essays and articles throughout his life. He was one of the most imaginative, perceptive, and prolific founders of the sociological discipline. In addition to leading the Pan-African movement and being a leading activist for civil rights Du Bois was a pioneer of urban sociology, an innovator of rural sociology, a leader in criminology, the first American sociologist of religion, and most notably the first great social theorist of race.

Phil Zuckerman has assembled Du Bois's work from a wide variety of sources, including articles Du Bois published in newspapers, speeches he delivered, selections from well-known classics such as The Souls of Black Folk and Darkwater, and lesser-known, hard-to-find material written by this revolutionary social theorist. The result is the most comprehensive, dynamic introduction to the sociological theory of one of the 20th century's intellectual beacons.