Quest of the Silver Fleece (AmazonClassics Edition), The

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.