Frederick Douglass

by William S. McFeely

Book Overview

A former slave, orator, journalist, autobiographer, and revolutionary on behalf of a just America, Douglass was a towering figure, at once consumately charismatic and flawed. In this biography, fresh and incisive in its research and interpretation, Freeley captures the many sides of this great and complex American, and recreates the high drama of a turbulent era.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393028232
• ISBN13: 9780393028232
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 465 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Adequate Book About a Fascinating American

Frederick Douglass is an authentic American and a heroic figure. For those wishing to become aquainted with a chronicle of his life, McFeely's book will do the job.Born a slave in Maryland, Douglass accomplished the difficult task of self education in an era when slaves were not taught under penalty of law. "Running away with himself" (as Southerners used to describe slaves who escaped) twenty years before the Civil War, he became one of our country's great orators in telling the tale of his life as a bondsman and urging that America embrace emancipation of all slaves. He was perhaps the anti-slavery movement's best spokesman. Not only for the sheer eloquence with which he captivated audiences, but as living proof that a black could be educated to a level reached by few people of any race.Douglass did his part for the Union in the Civil War and bought into Republicanism as the best political vehicle for achieving the end of slavery and the leveling up of blacks to their rightful place in American society. His hopes were frustrated after the Civil War when his party turned away from Reconstruction and blacks were subjugated anew by racism, indifference and Jim Crowism.Douglass was an idealist in that he believed that America could be exhorted into granting slaves not only their freedom but their civil rights and social equality. His country failed his vision miserably and he ended his life personnally successful (as successful as his skin color could take him in the 1890's) but very distraught at the chasm between his hopes for a free America and the reality.This is an adequate book, though dry at times. It follows Douglass chronologically. In episodes where his life was a fascinating story -- as a slave, his escape, his establishment in the North, as a politician and as US minister to Haiti -- the book is a fascinating tale. Not so fascinating are long accounts of his work on the road delivering speeches as an agent of the anti-slavery movement. Part of the problem with writing a biography of a man who was in large part a professional orator is that the chapters focusing on that work are not very exciting. Mcfeely spends a lot of ink detailing his journies on the stump and his meetings with many characters who were part of the American and English anti-slavery movements. Douglass's life flow, when examined chronologically, produces a story of varying degrees of drama. Although any biograhpher is limited by his character, I had the feeling throughout that Douglass's life could be told with more verve without sacrificing the facts.What McFeely should have jettisoned were several parts where he delved into psychobabble -- speculations about sexual attraction or the depth of feeling between Douglass and several figures in his life. Human feelings and attractions are an important part of any biography and certainly shaped Douglass's life. McFeeley speculates on several without any facts to support h

Excellent biography!

I, also, cannot understand why the first reader found this biography on Fredrick Douglass, racist. Personally, I found it completely the opposite. For the first time, I truly felt I understood the man behind the public image.

An excellent critical analysis of a Man

I am curious to know the previous reviewer found William McFeely's observations/analysis of Frederick Douglas racist. I too found a lot of overly subjective tones within the work of Mr. McFeely's analysis of Frederick Douglas, but I also found that his analysis captured, for me, Frederick Douglas' strong positive character, and sense of universal humanity. Mr. McFeely's analysis, while in some instances deductive, yet subjective in others, presented a man - not a God, who held fast to is universal convictions, but who was also subject to human frailties. Mr. McFeely's analysis of Douglas has reinforced my admiration in Frederick Douglas even more.