The Quest of the Silver Fleece (AmazonClassics Edition) (Unabridged‪)‬

Sociologist and civil rights leader W. E. B. Du Bois weaves a powerful romantic plot with striking social commentary in his debut novel.

When the free-spirited Zora and the ambitious Bles first meet, they strike up an immediate friendship - one that seems destined to mature into love. That emotional journey is disrupted, however, by the crushingly oppressive forces that surround them in the post-Reconstruction South. Zora’s desire for personal growth takes her to New York, where she finds work as a domestic servant, while Bles travels to Washington, DC, for an education in politics. Disillusioned by the corruption and hypocrisy of the North, they eventually return home with a new dream altogether: to turn cotton - the South’s cash crop, and the source of so much exploitation - into their own silver fleece.

A wide range of early-twentieth-century attitudes converge in this rich and sprawling exploration of Black resilience in America.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Quest of the Silver Fleece, this edition of The Quest of the Silver Fleece (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.