Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.8092
EAN: 9780300087017
ISBN: 0300087012
Label: Yale University Press
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 192
Publication Date: 2001-03-01
Publisher: Yale University Press
Studio: Yale University Press

In 1845, just seven years after his escape from slavery, the young Frederick Douglass published this powerful account of his life in bondage and his triumph over oppression. The book, which marked the beginning of Douglass's career as an impassioned writer, journalist, and orator for the abolitionist cause, reveals the terrors he faced as a slave, the brutalities of his owners and overseers, and his harrowing escape to the North. It has become a classic of American autobiography.

This edition of the book, based on the authoritative text that appears in Yale University Press's multivolume edition of the Frederick Douglass Papers, is the only edition of Douglass's Narrative designated as an Approved Text by the Modern Language Association's Committee on Scholarly Editions. It includes a chronology of Douglass's life, a thorough introduction by the eminent Douglass scholar John Blassingame, historical notes, and reader responses to the first edition of 1845.

Customer Rating:
Summary: A classic narrative of human brutality...
Comment: If progress in human rights continues, and history offers no guarantees, then slavery will remain one of the USA's most nefarious legacies. Though no timeless ethical absolutes seem to exist, the statement "American slavery was wrong" feels beyond question. Unfortunately, the insatiable demand for cheap labor wreaks havoc even today. Witness "sweat shops" and the appalling treatment of some immigrant laborers. What strikes us as wrong about such exploitation is its fundamental drive to reduce human beings to mere "things." 19th century slavery followed this ideology, though on an institutionalized and far more ghastly level. In 1845, Former Maryland slave Frederick Douglass eloquently described what it was like to have his dignity ripped out from the roots. This, his first autobiography, should stand as a permanent reminder of what exploitation does to the exploited and also to the exploiters. Nobody wins. And as exploitation continues at home and abroad, we find that Frederick Douglass still has much to teach us.

This short book chronicles Douglass' murky birth (his father's identity remains a mystery) to his eventual escape to New York City. Graphic depictions of slavery fill each chapter. More than that, Douglass offers reflections on how such events shaped his self-image. These passages evoke slavery's psychological brutality. They also help the reader stand in Douglass' coarse linen shoes, which considerably adds to the work's persuasive power. One such climax arrives in Chapter X, where Douglass lashes back at the infamous "slave-breaker" Mr. Covey. "I did not hesitate to let it be known of me," Douglass writes with evident fury, "that the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me." After one failed escape attempt, by the final chapter he finds his way to New York city. Since slavery was still very much a reality in 1845, he judiciously leaves out the details of his escape route. Then his fianceé appears as if out of nowhere, and with the help of abolitionists the newlyweds make their way to New Bedford. There he labors as a freeman until the anti-slavery movement appropriates him as one of their most eloquent spokespeople. Here he finally finds community and hope. The book's introduction outlines Douglass' life after 1845.

Some of the most intriguing passages involve Douglass' reflections on the psychology of slavery. Keeping slaves busy, illiterate, full of self-reproach, and constantly on guard against physical punishment helped keep them in thier place. Not only that, Douglass describes his slave master's holiday tradition of forced drunkenness or surfeit to the point of sickness. He suggests that this sleight-of-hand attempted to give freedom an icky aftertaste. It was a trick. Give your slaves a taste of freedom (a week off) and make it the worst experience of their lives. Douglass even claims that, following such horrors, some slaves were almost relieved when they returned to their back breaking forced labor.

Douglass ultimately escaped that hard labor, but he never forgot those he left behind. His back viciously scarred and his feet gashed from frost, he became a beacon for anti-slavery. This brief but passionately written autobiography will serve as a permanent reminder of just how horrible human beings can be to one another. Though its final chapter also relates some of humanity's good side. On both fronts, may this little book continue to inform the past as well as the future.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but...
Comment: Interesting, but can get dull fairly fast. Somewhat strange to read in a slave's own word the life and times of his bondage in such a matter of fact way. with that said, good read overall.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A must read!!!!!
Comment: Frederick Douglass was a born slave. Although he was self-educated, he acquired an almost unparalleled level of education. He was a Christian, but a fighter - a fighter for freedom. He was the real kind of Christian. He not only fought for his freedom and escaped from slavery, but he fought relentlessly to aboliish freedom in the United States.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Should be in every library
Comment: Though I am skeptical about most 'history,' this book was written by a man who felt oppression and fought it. This book as well Douglass' other writing should be the primary source on slavery and the civil war.

This book, as well as its excellent forward, serves to warn that slavery could happen here again disguised as something else. It reminds us that slavery is not an institution but a crime.

This edition is the best as far as size and print quality. It has also best foreward and the best afterward. I hope Signet continues to keep this edition available.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: KINDLE EDITION: Excellent!
Comment: I wrote this review to mention the Kindle Edition. Many lower-priced Kindle editions of books have bad formatting problems that make the book difficult or even impossible to read. Not this one! I found the formatting was excellent throughout. In two places the footnotes were slightly misplaced, but it was easy to figure out from context what the text was. In general, the Kindle formatting was better than many more recent (and expensive!) books.

The content was also excellent (as other reviewers have noted), hence the 5 stars. I've read of Frederick Douglass' life from other sources, but this was the first time I'd read his account.

The introduction by other authors was written in a style that now feels very anachronistic. It was hard to get through those.

Frederick Douglass' account, however, was fresh, engaging, and direct. I found it hard to put down. Descriptions of the atrocities of the time were very personal and not couched in the melodrama of the introduction. I think that made his account even more powerful. His description of his self-education in Baltimore was absolutely stunning and inspirational.

This autobiography, from such a pivotal figure in American history, would already be required reading at any price. But the accessibility and readability of this edition make it a must-have for a Kindle.

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