The story of Frederick Douglass is passionate, harrowing, and inspiring. “Nothing is Settled that is Not Right.” The American Spectator, 21 Aug. 2018, spectator.org/nothing-is-settled-that-is-not-right/McCrum, Robert. The book received positive reviews when it was published, with many reviewers noting that although the book is shorter than most, it is compact and rich in information. A review by fellow Douglass historian, John Stauffer, in the Wall Street Journal referred to the book as moving: “Mr. Instead, there are three autobiographies, including several versions of those autobiographies…numerous autobiographical lectures, essays, letters, and even a novella, all of which address aspects of Douglass’s life from complementary and sometimes contradictory perspectives…In short, this is a book about autobiography that is also a literary biography.”. By 1860, it had sold 30,000 copies. In the book’s preface, Douglass explains why he wrote the book, stating that he was originally hesitant to write his slave narrative because “I have never placed my opposition to slavery on a basis so narrow as my own enslavement, but rather upon the indestructible and unchangeable laws of human nature…” but eventually agreed to write it because he realized “It is not to illustrate any heroic achievements of a man, but to vindicate a just and beneficent principle, in its application to the whole human family, by letting in the light of truth upon a system, esteemed by some as a blessing, and by others as a curse and a crime.”. It must develop from within.’ Douglass – who taught himself to read, then taught himself the principles of political philosophy, and then rose through his own efforts to become one of the nation’s foremost intellectuals – was preeminently a self-made man. In the introduction to the book, Levine argues that the disproportionate amount of attention paid to Douglass’s first autobiography has distorted and limited the public’s view of Douglass and Levine hopes to correct it by examining all of Douglass’s writings in full: “The Lives of Frederick Douglass is a book about Douglass as an autobiographer, but with a difference. amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart";
This book can’t totally fix that, but it is certainly an important step in completing his biography.”. As a former slave, impassioned abolitionist, gifted writer, newspaper editor, and powerful orator, Douglass was an immense, motivational figure. Published in 1881, this book is Frederick Douglass’s third autobiography and expands even more on the inner workings of the Underground Railroad, Douglass’s escape from slavery and also discusses his life during and after the Civil War. Not included in your list of Douglass biographies is what appears to be the earliest one, published in 1893, author James Monroe Gregory: Frederick Douglass the Orator. It is surprising how few books there are about Frederick Douglass. His biographers, closely hewing to Douglass’s narrative, pushed women further to the margins, relegating them to standard roles and platitudes about importance without demonstrating their contributions or expressing curiosity about their motivations.”, The book received positive reviews when it was published, with the Wall Street Journal calling it “a fresh and surprising account of Douglass’s life” and Kirkus Reviews echoing that sentiment when it referred to the book as “A fresh and insightful perspective on a major historical figure.”. In addition to discussing his early years in slavery, the book also discusses Douglass’s experiences with racism in the northern states as a free man, his time overseas in England and Ireland and his activism and includes a 58 page appendix of extracts from Douglass’ speeches. The book explores the origins and growth of Douglass’s skill as a writer and speaker and attempts to uncover many of the inner thoughts, motivations and conflicts in Douglass’s personal life that Douglass himself neglected to speak of in his own autobiographies. On June 10, 1845, the New York Times published a front-page review praising the book: “Considered merely as narrative, we have never read one more simple, true, coherent and warm with genuine feeling.”, Critics overseas praised the book as well, with the Edinburgh Journal declaring that it “bears all the appearance of truth, and must, we conceive, help considerably to disseminate correct ideas respecting slavery and its attendant evils.”. Those of us overly mesmerized by the abundant military narratives of the Civil War will profit from the book’s tight, dense description of the intellectual controversies over what was, or became, the final cause of the conflict in Aristotelian terms: slavery and the American constitutional order.”. These books cover everything from his personal life to his literary work and even the people around Douglass who influenced who he came to be. Women in the World of Frederick Douglass by Leigh Fought.

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