Chad Williams — The Wounded World Book Publicity Case Study

This book publicity case study outlines the work Coriolis Company performed for Professor Chad Williams’ book, The Wounded World: W. E. B. Du Bois and the First World War, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on April 4, 2023. The Wounded World tells the dramatic story of W. E. B. Du Bois’s reckoning with the betrayal of Black soldiers during World War I―and a new understanding of one of the great twentieth-century writers

April 5, 2023, Author Event, in conversation with Brenna W. Greer, hosted by Wellesley Books, Wellesley, MA

April 19, 2023, Chad Williams presents “The Wounded World: W. E. B. Du Bois and the First World War” in conversation w/Minkah Makalani hosted by Red Emma’s, Baltimore, MD

April 20, 2023, Chad L. Williams — The Wounded World: W. E. B. Du Bois and the First World War – with Michael Kazin hosted by Politics and Prose, Washington, DC

May 2, 2023, Author Event: Chad L. Williams in conversation with Waldo Martin hosted by Books Inc. Berkeley, CA

May 3, 2023, Author Event: Chad L. Williams in conversation with Sarah Ladipo Manyika hosted by San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA

May 4, 2023, At Skylight: Chad L. Williams presents The Wounded World with Robin D.G. Kelley hosted by Skylight Books, Los Angeles, CA

May 8, 2023, Author Talk with Chad L. Williams — The Wounded World, hosted by Boston Public Library, Boston, MA

August 19, 2023, African American History Panel, Mississippi Book Festival, Jackson, MS

August 28, 2023, Author Event, Chad L. Williams in conversation with  Osarueme Osazee, hosted by Osas Virtual Book Club

Estimated total reach: 232,732,125

February 20, 2023, “Dr. Chad Williams on Tavis Smiley,” KBLA 1580 Talk Radio

February 22, 2023, “The Wounded World. In conversation with author Professor Chad L. Williams” with Jim Herlihy, The San Francisco Experience

March 30, 2023, “The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois” with Keith Haney, Becoming Bridge Builders

April 13, 2023, “War, White Supremacy And The Failure Of Democracy” by Marybeth Gasman, Forbes

April 23, 2023, “W.E.B. Dubois and The Wounded World with Chad Williams,” Reflecting History podcast

May 5, 2023, “The Pacifist and the Battlefield” with Stephanie Bastek, The Smarty Pants Podcast

May 7, 2023, “‘I wish he had finished his book’: Chad L Williams on WEB Du Bois” by Charles Kaiser, The Guardian

May 22, 2023, Interview on WURD Radio’s The Source with Andrea Sanders

May 26, 2023, “Podcast #135 – Chad Williams” with Sonja Williams, Biographers International Organization

June 1, 2023, “Ep 55 – Chad Williams – WEB DuBois and Black America in The First World War,” The Parley in All Blue with Mark Dawson

June 4, 2023, “The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War, a Discussion with Dr. Chad Williams” with Mike Cunha, Battles of the First World War Podcast

June 4, 2023, “W.E.B. DuBois and The Wounded World w/ Chad L. Williams” with Bruce Carlson, My History Can Beat Up Your Politics Podcast

June 6, 2023, Interview on KFAI’s The Conversation with Al McFarlane

June 19, 2023, “W. E. B. Du Bois & African American Contributions to World War I” with Kelly Therese Pollock, Unsung History Podcast

June 22, 2023, “Why Did WW2 Advance Civil Rights When WW1 Reversed Them? Here’s What WEB DuBois Said” with Scott Rank, History Unplugged Podcast

July 25, 2023, Interview on KFAI’s Write On! Radio

August 26, 2023, “The Wounded World with Dr. Chad Williams” with Alycia, Civics and Coffee

September 14, 2023, “War Booster, Peace Activist The Complicated Legacy of WEB DuBois w/ Dr.Chad Williams,” with Dominique DiPrima, First Things First

September 27, 2023, “Discussing W.E.B. Du Bois with Chad Williams” with Nick Shepley, Explaining History

September 29, 2023, “The Betrayal of Black Soldiers in WWI with Dr. Chad Williams” with Dr. Karen Bryson, The Curious Professor

October 12, 2023, The untold story of W.E.B. Du Bois with Alexandra Churchill, History Hack

November 1, 2023, W.E.B. Du Bois and World War I with Amanda Williams, World War I Podcast

April 1, 2024, African American Contributions in World War I and W.E.B. Du Bois’s Legacy with Dr. Chad Williams with Paul Bavill, History Rage

Estimated total reach: 166,311,174

“Stirring intellectual history . . . Williams convincingly renders Du Bois as a tragic figure whose optimism was dashed by the intransigence of racism, adding poignancy to a story about the limits and fragility of American democracy. At once a moving character study and a deeply researched look at a dispiriting era from the country’s past, this is history at its most vivid.” ― Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A compelling account . . . Williams, like Du Bois before him, has done the important work of making sure that history is recorded and remembered . . . A solid bulwark against efforts to simplify and sanitize history.” ― Kirkus Reviews

“Illuminating . . . deeply researched, [and] crisply written . . . By rendering this story in such rich archival detail, Williams’s book is a fitting coda to Du Bois’s unfinished history.” — Matthew Delmont , The New York Times

“Prodigiously researched and compulsively readable . . . Williams wisely . . . [allows] Du Bois’s biography to unfold in all its messy, captivating, inspiring complexity. Specialists and general readers alike will profit from Williams’s sensitive reconstruction of the most challenging period, ethically and politically, of Du Bois’s long life.” — Vaughn Rasberry, The Washington Post

“Professor Chad Williams’s story of this never-to-be completed book is a sweeping and overarching study which includes black-and-white photos, full notes, and an index. It is one of the best biographies I have ever read.” — David F. Beer, Roads to the Great War

“My favorite kind of history makes you feel you are living inside every moment the author creates. This can only happen when the fruits of rigorous research are assembled with the flair of a novelist. Chad L Williams, a Brandeis professor, does all that and more in his riveting new biography of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois.” — Charles Kaiser, The Guardian

 “In ‘The Wounded World’, Chad Williams provides an informative account of the second half of DuBois’ life. Williams’ primary focus is DuBois’ decades long, and never completed history of the experiences of Black soldiers during World War I.” — Dr. Glenn Altschuler, Florida Courier

“Through dogged research, Williams has illuminated the mystery of the book that could not be written and that haunted its author to the end.”—Barbara Spindel, The Christian Science Monitor

“Professor Chad Williams’s story of this never-to-be completed book is a sweeping and overarching study which includes black-and-white photos, full notes, and an index. It is one of the best biographies I have ever read.” — David F. Beer, Roads to the Great War

“An outstanding account of the eminent intellectual’s literary Waterloo.” — Eugene L. Meyer, Washington Independent Review of Books

“Williams’ study is a comprehensive and historically illuminating account and tribute to Du Bois’ massive, unpublished work–his life’s work.” — Nichole Louise

Williams tells the story of Du Bois’s failed effort to write a “definitive” history of Black soldiers during World War I with compassion, insight, and amazing research. —Randal Maurice Jelks, Los Angeles Review of Books

Estimated total reach: 12,680,100

January 3, 2023, “2023 Preview: Most Anticipated Nonfiction,” BookPage

February 7, 2023, “W.E.B. Du Bois, Black History Month and the importance of African American studies,” The Conversation

March 30, 2023, “The Annotated Nightstand: What Clint Smith is Reading Now and Next,” Literary Hub

April 20, 2023, “10 best books of April: The courage to look under the surface,” The Christian Science Monitor