Best Selling Books by Frederick Douglass

A new collection of the seminal writings and speeches of a legendary writer, orator, and civil rights leader This compact volume offers a full course on the remarkable, diverse career of Frederick Douglass, letting us hear once more a necessary historical figure whose guiding voice is needed now as urgently as ever. Edited by renowned scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Pulitzer Prize–nominated historian John Stauffer, The Portable Frederick Douglass includes the full range of Douglass’s works: the complete Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, as well as extracts from My Bondage and My Freedom and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass; The Heroic Slave, one of the first works of African American fiction; the brilliant speeches that launched his political career and that constitute the greatest oratory of the Civil War era; and his journalism, which ranges from cultural and political critique (including his early support for women’s equality) to law, history, philosophy, literature, art, and international affairs, including a never-before-published essay on Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture. The Portable Frederick Douglass is the latest addition in a series of African American classics curated by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. First published in 2008, the series reflects a selection of great works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by African and African American authors introduced and annotated by leading scholars and acclaimed writers in new or updated editions for Penguin Classics. In his series essay, “What Is an African American Classic?” Gates provides a broader view of the canon of classics of African American literature available from Penguin Classics and beyond. Gates writes, “These texts reveal the human universal through the African American particular: all true art, all classics do this; this is what ‘art’ is, a revelation of that which makes each of us sublimely human, rendered in the minute details of the actions and thoughts and feelings of a compelling character embedded in a time and place.” For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Raised as a plantation slave who was taught to read and write by one of his owners, Frederick Douglass became a brilliant writer, eloquent orator, and major participant in the stuggle of African-Americans for freedom and equality. In this engrossing, first-hand narrative originally published in 1845, he vividly recounts early years of physical abuse, deprivation and tragedy; his dramatic escape to the North and eventual freedom, abolitionist campaigns, and crusade for full civil rights for former slaves. A powerful autobiography of a passionate civil rights advocate, this book will be of value to anyone interested in African-American history.

Douglass''s memoir, first published in 1845, is the moving narrative of twenty-one years of enslavement and escape to freedom. In a new introduction, distinguished scholar Robert Stepto argues why this account was so important to the abolitionist cause and how it continues to resonate with readers today.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. presents the only authoritative edition of all three autobiographies by the escaped slave who became a great American leader. Here in this Library of America volume are collected Frederick Douglass''s three autobiographical narratives, now recognized as classics of both American history and American literature. Writing with the eloquence and fierce intelligence that made him a brilliantly effective spokesman for the abolition of slavery and equal rights, Douglass shapes an inspiring vision of self-realization in the face of monumental odds. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), published seven years after his escape, was written in part as a response to skeptics who refused to believe that so articulate an orator could ever have been a slave. A powerfully compressed account of the cruelty and oppression of the Maryland plantation culture into which Douglass was born, it brought him to the forefront of the anti-slavery movement and drew thousands, black and white, to the cause. In My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), Douglass expands the account of his slave years. With astonishing psychological penetration, he probes the painful ambiguities and subtly corrosive effects of black-white relations under slavery, and recounts his determined resistance to segregation in the North. The book also incorporates extracts from Douglass’s speeches, including the searing “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Life and Times, first published in 1881, records Douglass’s efforts to keep alive the struggle for racial equality udirng Reconstruction. John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, and Harriet Beecher Stowe all feature prominently in this chronicle of a crucial epoch in American history. The revised edition of 1893, presented here, includes an account of his controversial diplomatic mission to Haiti. This volume contains a detailed chronology of Douglass’s life, notes providing further background on the events and people mentioned, and an account of the textual history of each of the autobiographies. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

A new edition of one of the most influential literary documents in American and African American history Ideal for coursework in American and African American history, this revised edition of Frederick Douglass’s memoir of his life as a slave in pre-Civil War Maryland incorporates a wide range of supplemental materials to enhance students’ understanding of slavery, abolitionism, and the role of race in American society. Offering readers a new appreciation of Douglass’s world, it includes documents relating to the slave narrative genre and to the later career of an essential figure in the nineteenth-century abolition movement.

This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition combines the two most important African American slave narratives into one volume. Frederick Douglass''s Narrative, first published in 1845, is an enlightening and incendiary text. Born into slavery, Douglass became the preeminent spokesman for his people during his life; his narrative is an unparalleled account of the dehumanizing effects of slavery and Douglass''s own triumph over it. Like Douglass, Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery, and in 1861 she published Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, now recognized as the most comprehensive antebellum slave narrative written by a woman. Jacobs''s account broke the silence on the exploitation of African American female slaves, and it remains crucial reading. These narratives illuminate and inform each other. This edition includes an incisive Introduction by Kwame Anthony Appiah and extensive annotations. From the Paperback edition.

Author, abolitionist, political speaker, and philosopher,Frederick Douglass was a pivotal figure in the decades ofstruggle leading up to the Civil War and the EmancipationProclamation. This inexpensive compilation of his speeches— including “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” (1852)and “Self-Made Men” (1859) — adds vital detail to the portraitof this great historical figure.Dover Original

"First published in the United States of America by Miller, Orton & Mulligan 1855. This edition published by Yale University Press 2014. Introduction and notes copyright 2014 by David W. Blight."

"This Dover edition ...is an original compilation of unabridged editions of the following works"--T.p. verso.

Selections of speeches and writings from the great abolitionist and statesman, focusing on the slave trade, the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, suffrage for African-Americans, Southern reconstruction, and other vital issues.

The premier publishing of Frederick Douglass'' bestselling autobiography was in 1845, wherein he documents his life as a young slave learning to read, his subsequent escape from slavery, and how he established himself as a freeman under a false name. Douglass was forced to flee the country to evade recapture after the original pressing and only returned after buying his freedom. Two more autobiographies were published, in 1855 and 1881, where Douglass told of his life as an abolitionist, advisor to the president, and newspaper editor. --Publisher.

This revision of the acclaimed and widely assigned Norton Critical Edition of Frederick Douglass’s great autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself includes key examples of literary and cultural analyses that have engaged scholars over the last three decades. This Norton Critical Edition includes: - Frederick Douglass’s 1845 Narrative, the most influential autobiography of its kind. - A preface and explanatory footnotes by William L. Andrews and William S. McFeely. - Contemporary perspectives by Douglass, Margaret Fuller, James Monroe Gregory, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. - Essays by William L. Andrews, William S. McFeely, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Deborah E. McDowell, Houston A. Baker, Jr., Jeannine Marie DeLombard, and Robert D. Richardson, Jr. - A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography.

This ebook collection has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" is s generally held to be the most famous of a number of narratives written by former slaves during the same period. In factual detail, the text recount Douglass''s life as a slave and his ambition to become a free man and is considered to be one of the most influential pieces of literature to fuel the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century in the United States. My Bondage and My Freedom is the second of three autobiographies written by Douglass, and is mainly an expansion of his first (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass), discussing in greater detail his transition from bondage to liberty. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass'' third autobiography in which he gave more details about his life as a slave and his escape from slavery in this volume than he could in his two previous autobiographies. Frederick Douglass (1818 –1895) was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writings.

A shortened autobiography presenting the early life of the slave who became an abolitionist, journalist, and statesman.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”—Frederick Douglass Born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, Frederick Douglass became a champion of the abolitionist movement after escaping to the North in 1838. Douglass later remarked upon his arrival in New York, “I have often been asked how I felt when I first found myself on free soil. And my readers may share the same curiosity.” Readers did indeed share in this curiosity and Douglass became a much-admired orator and writer, active in both the abolitionist and the women’s suffrage movements. Douglass is best remembered through his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written By Himself. This, My Bondage and My Freedom, and several of Douglass’ speeches offer important glimpses into American history and are now available in a chic and affordable edition as part of the Word Cloud Classics series from Canterbury Classics.

"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" is s generally held to be the most famous of a number of narratives written by former slaves during the same period. In factual detail, the text describes the events of his life and is considered to be one of the most influential pieces of literature to fuel the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century in the United States. My Bondage and My Freedom is the second of three autobiographies written by Douglass, and is mainly an expansion of his first (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass), discussing in greater detail his transition from bondage to liberty. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass'' third autobiography in which he gave more details about his life as a slave and his escape from slavery in this volume than he could in his two previous autobiographies. Frederick Douglass (1818 –1895) was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writings.

In the month of August, 1841, I attended an anti-slavery convention in Nantucket, at which it was my happiness to become acquainted with Frederick Douglass, the writer of the following Narrative. He was a stranger to nearly every member of that body; but, having recently made his escape from the southern prison-house of bondage, and feeling his curiosity excited to ascertain the principles and measures of the abolitionists,-of whom he had heard a somewhat vague description while he was a slave,-he was induced to give his attendance, on the occasion alluded to, though at that time a resident in New Bedford. Fortunate, most fortunate occurrence!-fortunate for the millions of his manacled brethren, yet panting for deliverance from their awful thraldom!-fortunate for the cause of negro emancipation, and of universal liberty!-fortunate for the land of his birth, which he has already done so much to save and bless!-fortunate for a large circle of friends and acquaintances, whose sympathy and affection he has strongly secured by the many sufferings he has endured, by his virtuous traits of character, by his ever-abiding remembrance of those who are in bonds, as being bound with them!-fortunate for the multitudes, in various parts of our republic, whose minds he has enlightened on the subject of slavery, and who have been melted to tears by his pathos, or roused to virtuous indignation by his stirring eloquence against the enslavers of men!-fortunate for himself, as it at once brought him into the field of public usefulness, "gave the world assurance of a MAN," quickened the slumbering energies of his soul, and consecrated him to the great work of breaking the rod of the oppressor, and letting the oppressed go free!

‘Two Articles by Frederick Douglass’ houses two of the abolitionist’s most important essays on race and equality. The first essay, ‘My Escape from Slavery’, details his daring bid for freedom from a plantation as well as his experiences on reaching New York. The second, ‘Reconstruction’, is an open letter to the white readers of the ‘Atlantic Monthly’ magazine, highlighting the importance of extending the vote to African Americans and the need for equal rights. The two essays are startling pieces of writing, with both documenting the struggles faced by African Americans at the time. ́Two Articles ́ will delight any person already familiar with Douglass'' body of work. Frederick Douglass (1818-1995) was an American abolitionist and author. Born into slavery in Maryland, he was of African, European, and Native American descent. He was separated from his mother at a young age and lived with his grandmother until he was moved to another plantation. Frederick was taught his alphabet by the wife of one of his owners, a knowledge he passed on to other slaves. In 1838, he successfully escaped slavery by jumping on a north-bound train. After less than 24 hours, he was in New York and free. The same year, he married the woman that had inspired his run for freedom and started working actively as a social reformer, orator, statesman, and women’s rights defender. He remains most known today for his 1845 autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave."

Life and Times was first published in 1881, revised and expanded in 1892. Although Douglass wrote two other autobiographies, Narrative (1845) and My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), he clearly deemed this comprehensive treatment of his life his most important autobiography. This edition reintroduces readers to a long-neglected essential of African-American literature. Life and Times revisits the events of his earlier autobiographies, demonstrating their connection to later events in his life: his political abolitionism, his connection to John Brown, the Civil War, his relationship with Abraham Lincoln, Reconstruction, the Jim Crow Era, and the Gilded Age.

Library of America presents the biggest, most comprehensive trade edition of Frederick Douglass''s writings ever published Edited by Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer David W. Blight, this Library of America edition is the largest single-volume selection of Frederick Douglass’s writings ever published, presenting the full texts of thirty-four speeches and sixty-seven pieces of journalism. (A companion Library of America volume, Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies, gathers his three memoirs.) With startling immediacy, these writings chart the evolution of Douglass’s thinking about slavery and the U.S. Constitution; his eventual break with William Lloyd Garrison and many other abolitionists on the crucial issue of disunion; the course of his complicated relationship with Abraham Lincoln; and his deep engagement with the cause of women’s suffrage. Here are such powerful works as “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” Douglass’s incandescent jeremiad skewering the hypocrisy of the slaveholding republic; “The Claims of the Negro Ethnologically Considered,” a full-throated refutation of nineteenthcentury racial pseudoscience; “Is it Right and Wise to Kill a Kidnapper?,” an urgent call for forceful opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act; “How to End the War,” in which Douglass advocates, just days after the fall of Fort Sumter, for the raising of Black troops and the military destruction of slavery; “There Was a Right Side in the Late War,” Douglass’s no-holds-barred attack on the “Lost Cause” mythology of the Confederacy; and “Lessons of the Hour,” an impassioned denunciation of lynching and disenfranchisement in the emerging Jim Crow South. As a special feature the volume also presents Douglass’s only foray into fiction, the 1853 novella “The Heroic Slave,” about Madison Washington, leader of the real-life insurrection on board the domestic slave-trading ship Creole in 1841 that resulted in the liberation of more than a hundred enslaved people. Editorial features include detailed notes identifying Douglass’s many scriptural and cultural references, a newly revised chronology of his life and career, and an index.