Frederick Douglass : Autobiographies : Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave / My Bondage and My Freedom / Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Library of America) [Hardcover]

Frederick Douglass (Author), Henry Louis Gates (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Library of America | Publication Date: February 1, 1994

Frederick Douglass, born a slave, educated himself, escaped, and made himself one of the greatest leaders in American history. His brilliant anti-slavery speeches were so fiercely intelligent, and so startlingly eloquent, that many people didn't believe he had been a slave. To prove them wrong, Douglass decided to write his own story. His autobiographical narratives stunned the world, and have shocked, moved, and inspired readers ever since. Here, complete for the first time in one authoritative volume, are the three powerful and gripping stories, now recognized as classics of American writing. Fascinating firsthand accounts of slavery and abolitionism, John Brown and Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Reconstruction, and the emerging struggle for civil rights, they are above all the inspiring story of a self-made American: a slave who became adviser to the President, minister to Haiti, and the most influential black American of the nineteenth century.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This omnibus volume collects three noted autobiographical works by Douglass (1818-1895), the ex-slave who became one of the nation's most powerful advocates, on the stump and in print, for abolition and racial justice. His first work, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself , published in 1845, seven years after his escape, set out the cruelties and hypocrisies of slavery, "thus putting it in the power of any who doubted, to ascertain the truth or falsehood of my story of being a fugitive slave." Ten years later, he increased the heat with My Bondage and My Freedom which, though it relies heavily on the earlier edition, also included samples of his speeches. "Not only is slavery on trial, but unfortunately, the enslaved people are also on trial," wrote Douglass regarding this book. After the Civil War, he continued to fight racial injustice through writings about slavery and his struggles during Reconstruction in Life and Times , which, though first published in 1881, is presented here in the updated 1893 edition. The volume includes a detailed and lengthy chronology of Douglass's life and work, as well as notes and an essay on the varieties of past Douglass texts contributed by Gates, who chairs the Afro-American studies department at Harvard. However, the book would have been more valuable with an introductory essay and a more extensive comparison of the three autobiographies.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Douglass (1818-95), a former slave, rose to become an abolitionist, writer, and orator. In this collection of his autobiographical writings, edited by Gates (humanities, Harvard Univ.), he gives an extensive overview of his life. The work includes Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845); My Bondage and My Freedom (1855); and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881). In Narrative , Douglass comments on his birth, his parentage, his two masters, and the brutality of slavery he witnessed. In Bondage , he reflects on his childhood, life on the plantation, and his runaway plot. Life and Times concludes the trilogy: it covers his early life as a slave, his escape from bondage, and his connection with the antislavery movement. This one volume containing Douglass's seminal works is highly recommended for black history collections.
- Ann Burns, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1100 pages
• Publisher: Library of America (February 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940450798
• ISBN-13: 978-0940450790
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Life of a Free Man, September 5, 2002

By 

Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frederick Douglass : Autobiographies : Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave / My Bondage and My Freedom / Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Library of America) (Hardcover)

Frederick Douglass (1818?-1895) was the greatest African American leader of the Nineteenth Century. He was born a slave on the Eastern Shore in Maryland and grew up on plantations on the Eastern Shore with several years in Baltimore. He was a physically powerful, highly intelligent, and spirited youth and developed quickly a hatred of the slave system. As a slave, he taught himself to read and write, and learned the art of public speaking from the church and from a book of orations popular at the time that feel into his hands. He escaped from slavery at the age of 20 and moved to New Bedford,Massachusetts. He became part of the Abolitionist Movement and achieved fame as a public speaker. He became a newspaper editor and writer. During the Civil War, he assisted in the recuritment of black troops. He met President Lincoln on several occasions and became a great admirer. In later years, Douglass was aligned with the conservative "stalwart" wing of the Republican party and continued to speak out for the rights of African-Americans, to oppose (somewhat belatedly) the end of Reconstruction, and to work for the life of the spirit and the mind.

Frederick Douglass wrote three autobiographies which are given in this volume. The first, shortest, and best was written in 1845, seven years after Douglass had escaped from slavery. It tells in graphic and unforgettable terms the story of Douglass' life as a slave, the growth of the spirit of freedom in himself. and the early part of his life as a free man in New Bedford.

The second autobiography was written in 1855. It repeats much of the earlier story and describes Douglass's visit to Great Britain. A higlight of this volume is the Appendix in which Douglass gives the reader excerpts from several of his speeches, including his perhaps most famous speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July."

Douglass wrote his third autobiography in 1888 and edited it substantially in 1893. It describes Douglass's relationship with Abraham Lincoln and John Brown. I also enjoyed the section of the book in which Douglass describes his trip to England, Italy, and Egypt near the end of his life. It is highly intelligent, perceptive and reflective travel writing. There are also excerpts in this final autobiography from Douglass's speeches and letters.

The most striking incident in all three volumes is Douglass's story of how he stood up for himself and became in his own eyes a man of dignity and courage. Douglass had been sent for a year to live with a small farmer named Covey who had a reputation for breaking the sprit of strong-willed slaves. Covey whipped Douglass unmercifully for the first six months. Then, after a whipping which left Douglass scared and weak for several days (he ran back to his old master who ordered him back to Covey) Douglass fought back. Covey attempted to whip Douglass and Douglass resisted. The two men fought hand-to-hand for hours. Douglass could not assume the offensive in the fight (it was enough to resist at all) but more than held his ground and had the better of it. Covey at last walked off and never whipped Douglass again. This incident is strikingly told in each autobiography and marks the moment when Douglass showed he could stand up for himself and not have the spirit of a slave. It is inspiring and it grounded his actions for the rest of his life.

There is much in these books that transcends the resistance against American slavery, utterly important as that is. We have, as I have tried to explain, in this book the voice of personal freedom and self-determination which is something every person must learn and undestand for him or herself in deciding how to live. In addition,I get the impression that as Douglass aged he became increasingly committed to the life of the mind and the spirit. This is apparent from his writing and from his interest in travel, in European high culture, art, literature, and music. Douglass learned the meaning for freedom. He tried to devote himself to matters of the spirit in addition to his lifelong quest to improve the lot of the former slave. I think there is still a great deal to be learned here.

Douglass had much to say about the nature of American freedom and democracy. He loved and had faith in them, in spite of the horrible stain of slavery. Here is a wonderful observation from the third autobiography in which Douglass' describes his activities during the Presidential campaign of 1888.

"I left the discussion of the tariff to my young friend Morris, while I spoke for justice and humanity....I took it to be the vital and animating principle of the Republican party. I found the people more courageous than their party leaders. What the leaders were afraid to teach, the people were brave enough and glad enough to learn. I held that the soul of the nation was in this question, and that the gain of all the gold in the world would not compensate for the loss of the nation's soul. National honor is the soul of the nation, and when this is lost all is lost. ... As with an individual, so too with a nation, there is a time when it may properly be asked "What doth it profit to gain the whole world and therby lose one's soul?"

There is a spirit and a wisdom in Douglass that still has much to teach.

As a man of the Nineteenth Century, Douglass tells us little in his autobiographies of his personal life. Upon his escape from slavery, Douglass married a free, uneducated black woman. Upon her death, Douglass married a white woman, which (as we see briefly in the book) caused shock among American whites and blacks alike. We also see little of Douglass' relationship to his children. The reader who would like to learn more about Douglass' personal life needs to read a biography, such as William McFeeley's "Frederick Douglass" (1891)

Douglass' autobiographies are are precious work of American literature and a testimony to the free human spirit.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good writing, very interesting life, kind of poor annotations, July 11, 2008

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R. Nemirow (Denver CO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frederick Douglass : Autobiographies : Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave / My Bondage and My Freedom / Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Library of America) (Hardcover)

Two reasons might put one off from reading Frederick Douglass's autobiographies: (1)Douglass's life was so admirable and heroic that they are likely to contain more virtue than interest; and (2) there are so doggone many of them (after all, "autobiographies" ?! three of them?!). Don't let this happen. First, Douglass is a very good writer -- he's funny, he's earthy, he's smart, and his attitudes are surprisingly contemporary. It's almost as if your Democratic neighbor (although Douglass was a stalwart Republican -- those were the days) were to visit 19th century America and report back on what he saw. Second, reading his autobiographies seriatim allows you to see Douglass's life as he lived it: one sees how his own views of his past changed over time, and one comes to appreciate the unbelievably dramatic developments contained in the later autobiographies(I don't want to give them away). That said, three (count 'em 3!) autobiographies are a little much and, in retrospect, I would skip the second one, but do not, under any circumstances, skip the third one. Finally, the notes to the Library of America editions are really, really, really unhelpful. There aren't enough of them, and so the reader has no idea of the significance of some of the events Douglass refers to. Bottom line: Buy it used. Read it now.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the founding American novels, May 29, 2000

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M. H. Bayliss "book queen" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frederick Douglass : Autobiographies : Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave / My Bondage and My Freedom / Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Library of America) (Hardcover)

Once you read Douglass's narrative, you will be surprised that Douglass learned enough to be able to write the first narrative written by an uneducated slave. This is one of the most moving narratives you can read -- I challenge any reader to read this and not understand the irony of the white people supressing black people's accomplishments for hundreds of years. The story of Fredrick Douglas in inspiring on many different levels. Once you read it, any reader will understand why this is mandatory reading in any American literature course. It is impossible to understand life after the Civil War without reading this moving, touching novel about how a slave learned how to read and write. Douglass's autobiography is a great literary achievement which should be savored by all who read it both as a historical and literary document.