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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Paperback – November 18, 2010
Purchase options and add-ons
- Print length114 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateNovember 18, 2010
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.29 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-101936594188
- ISBN-13978-1936594184
- Lexile measure550L
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Product details
- Publisher : Tribeca Books (November 18, 2010)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 114 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1936594188
- ISBN-13 : 978-1936594184
- Lexile measure : 550L
- Item Weight : 5.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.29 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,266,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,571 in Black & African American Biographies
- #34,911 in Historical Biographies (Books)
- #64,035 in Memoirs (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2021
The significance of this book cannot be overestimated. In it, Douglass effectively dispels a number of popular myths about slaves and slaveholders, and forever changes the way the reader (especially one who lived while slavery still existed) looks at slavery. The theme of this book is very simple: slavery is wrong. It is evil, it is cruel, and, despite what many people thought at the time, the slaves know how cruel it is. Douglass cites several examples of the horrible treatment slaves received, one of them being separation of families. "It is a common custom...to part children from their mothers at a very early age" So it was with Douglass and his own mother.
Douglass writes in a very eloquent style, and this contributes to the power of this work. Many people who thought blacks were inferior in intelligence were shown to be sadly mistaken with the coming of Frederick Douglass, a man both educated and refined. It may be said that the book is not entirely fair, for it is decidedly anti-slavery, but it is undoubtedly true for most cases nonetheless. Most of the overseers in Douglass's narrative are demonic and sadistic, but when a good overseer comes along (such as Freeland), he is fair in his treatment of him.
One can imagine the fuel this book gave to the abolitionist fire, and it is not difficult to see why Douglass had such an impact on both North and South. This is, in my opinion, a definitive work, in that it shows the horrible institution of slavery in all its barbaric nature, and does it from a firsthand point of view, that of a former slave. This book was a tremendous contribution, both for the light it shed on slavery in general, and for proving that blacks were not intellectually inferior by nature, but instead were "transformed into...brute[s]" at the hands of their overseers.
This is a great book, essential for anyone wanting to study the Civil War era or wanting to gain a firmer understanding of slavery.
Top reviews from other countries
Content: This is in no way whitewashed. Language is blanked out. There are graphic descriptions of beatings & other physical harm inflicted upon slaves. Immorality abounded in the system and Douglass does not sweep this under the rug. Adultery & rape are frequently mentioned; also the common practise of slave owners to have children with their female slaves & the consequences of this. It's handled well & tastefully, but it is not veiled. Douglass' purpose was to be crystal-clear about the ills of slavery.
A Favourite Quote: "I would sometimes say to [these white boys], I wished I could be as free as they would be when they got to be men. “You will be free as soon as you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life! Have not I as good a right to be free as you have?” These words used to trouble them; they would express for me the liveliest sympathy, and console me with the hope that something would occur by which I might be free."
















