W.E.B. du Bois' The Souls of Black Folk is probably one of the most influential and widely read texts of all African American letters and history. The original 1903 edition is reprinted with extensive annotations by two prominent du Bois scholars - an historian and a philosopher. Three additional essays by du Bois are included and many items of correspondence which contextualize how people read the text in his own time. There is a substantial introduction to du Bois' life and writings.