Lines of Descent: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Emergence of Identity

The W. E. B. Du Bois Lectures

by Kwame Anthony Appiah

W. E. B. Du Bois never felt so at home as when he was a student in Berlin. Germany was the first place white people had treated him as an equal. But anti-Semitism was prevalent, and Du Bois' challenge, says Kwame Anthony Appiah, was to take the best of German intellectual life without its parochialism--to steal the fire without getting burned.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Biography, Race, Social Issues

Hardcover

First published February 27, 2014

About the author

Kwame Anthony Appiah, the president of the PEN American Center, is the author of The Ethics of Identity, Thinking It Through: An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy, The Honor Code and the prize-winning Cosmopolitanism. Raised in Ghana and educated in England, he has taught philosophy on three continents and is a former professor at Princeton University and currently has a position at NYU.

Series:
* Sir Patrick Scott Mystery (as Anthony Appiah)

Reviews

[Marion Lougheed · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of WEB Du Bois and his intellectual trajectory in regards to race and what we now call identity. Appiah is a brilliant writer, eminently readable (as the saying goes), and a thoughtful philosopher.

[Wessel van Rensburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book on how the German Romantics and their ideals, views on the nation (or volk), it's geist (soul) and it's striving influenced Du Bois. This was in opposition to the liberal humanist idea of rights conferred by state, and allowed Du Bois to think of himself in terms of a second dual identity.

Du Bois's romantic inspired nationalism was broad and not chauvinist - perhaps even cosmopolitan - which at the time was not thought to be unusual.

Well written and argued, not a boring read.

[Alex Golub · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an Appiah stan I was pleased to see his usual combination of clarity and poetic prose on display in this short and very readable book. A quick look at the detailed notes easily demonstrates that Appiah wears his learning lightly, guiding us through the argument without burying us in detailed scholarship.

The book itself is a relatively straight-forward account of the German thought as Du Bois experienced it. If you know who Gustav Schmoller is or are familiar with the term 'bildung', then there will not be a lot new for you in this volume. It is, however, an enjoyable refresher regarding these themes which ably connects them with Du Bois's writing.

If you are interested in Du Bois and haven't heard of bildung, I'd _definitely_ recommend it.

The last sections of the book sketch out Appiah's theory of identity. I felt a little chagrined to see him reinvent the wheel since so many of us in social science have already figured this stuff out already. But of course it's foolish to argue with people you disagree with, and I think Appiah's account is basically correct, even if it is not originally his own.

Overall, very good. Recommend, especially if you are a Du Bois person looking for background on his early influences.

[Peter Kerry Powers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good intellectual history of Du Bois's development as a thinker, implicitly applying Appiah's general ideas about rooted cosmopolitanism to Du Bois to think through his status as a cosmopolitan intellectual firmly declaring his commitment to an African American identity

[Ruth Feathers · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot to digest.

[Andy Wiesendanger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't know anything about Du Bois, so interesting first look.

[Jim Spickard · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and targeted intellectual biography. Appiah concentrates on Du Bois's training at Harvard and Berlin, showing the influence of the scholars under whom he studied had on his later thought. As should be expected of a short book that began as a series of lectures, Appiah focuses on Du Bois's approach to the question of identity (one of Appiah's own central interests). The book puts him in the center of an intellectual stream rather than treating him as purely self-grown.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic charting of the education and influences that shaped the intellectual and philosophical development of W.E.B. Du Bois. The men who shaped his thinking about race were towering figures, each an inspiration in himself (sadly, all men but those were the times). The book leads you to want to go deeper into the writing of Du Bois but also to seek out the writings of the great teachers who influenced him. The early chapters are a wonderful setup for the last two which tie everything together and make you consider the journey of your own development and who are those mentors on whose shoulders you will stand higher than you could ever stand alone. This book challenged me to reflect more deeply on the meaning of my own life and how it ties in with society and the greater culture and movements around me. Furthermore, I want to seek out the works of the author, Kwame Anthony Appiah's, writings on Cosmopolitanism and Honor. I really loved and was moved by the exploration of Du Bois' relationship to his identity as a black man and his search for an uplifting story of what would be the 'spiritual gift' his people had to bestow on all the people's of the world. Beautiful stuff. The kind of book you immediately want to read again from cover to cover before running out and obtaining the works of the thinkers that fill its pages.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read, beautifully written, intimate and illuminating. I found myself underlining, folding corners and writing in the margins, something I rarely do. Highly recommend for anyone interested in questions of identity or interested in the fascinating life of Du Bois.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book revolutionized my take on DBois. The descriptions of Herder, Hegel and the 19th century Berlin professors he studied with offers a unique perspective. Brilliant book. Inspired me to re read Souls of Black Folk.

[David Withun · Rating 5 out of 5]

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