W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was a Black American author, sociologist, historian and civil rights activist. He was the first African American to earn a PhD from Harvard University and one of the founders of the NAACP. His writings include Black Reconstruction in America, commonly considered the original pioneering work of revisionist African American history, and The Souls of Black Folk, a powerful and enduringly influential examination of the African American condition. Dr. Du Bois devoted his life to working toward equal rights and opportunities for people of color in the USA and worldwide.

John Brown by W.E.B. Du Bois is a probing biography of the man whose drive to oppose, and ultimately eradicate, slavery in the United States led to his death and helped precipitate the Civil War. The author brings scholarly insight and emotional power to his depiction of a uniquely pivotal figure in American history.