Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Frederick Douglass wrote in 1845. It’s an autobiographic story about slavery and freedom, constant aim to run away from the owner and at last become a free man. One failure follows another one. But in the end the fortune favours Douglass and he runs away on a train to the north, New-York. It would seem he is free now. Suddenly, he realises that his journey isn’t finished yet. He understands that even after he got free he can’t be at real liberty until the slavery is abolished in the USA…

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.

The classic autobiography of Frederick Douglass joins the the affordable Pocket Books Enriched Classics series, which offer such features as a chronology of the author's life and career; a critical analysis; discussion questions; and a list of recommended related reading.

Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln were the preeminent self-made men of their time. In this masterful dual biography, award-winning Harvard University scholar John Stauffer describes the transformations in the lives of these two giants during a major shift in cultural history, when men rejected the status quo and embraced new ideals of personal liberty. As Douglass and Lincoln reinvented themselves and ultimately became friends, they transformed America. Lincoln was born dirt poor, had less than one year of formal schooling, and became the nation's greatest president. Douglass spent the first twenty years of his life as a slave, had no formal schooling-in fact, his masters forbade him to read or write-and became one of the nation's greatest writers and activists, as well as a spellbinding orator and messenger of audacious hope, the pioneer who blazed the path traveled by future African-American leaders. At a time when most whites would not let a black man cross their threshold, Lincoln invited Douglass into the White House. Lincoln recognized that he needed Douglass to help him destroy the Confederacy and preserve the Union; Douglass realized that Lincoln's shrewd sense of public opinion would serve his own goal of freeing the nation's blacks. Their relationship shifted in response to the country's debate over slavery, abolition, and emancipation. Both were ambitious men. They had great faith in the moral and technological progress of their nation. And they were not always consistent in their views. John Stauffer describes their personal and political struggles with a keen understanding of the dilemmas Douglass and Lincoln confronted and the social context in which they occurred. What emerges is a brilliant portrait of how two of America's greatest leaders lived.

Introduction by Kwame Anthony Appiah Commentary by Jean Fagan Yellin and Margaret Fuller This Modern Library edition combines two of the most important African American slave narratives—crucial works that each illuminate and inform the other. 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 essential reading. Includes a Modern Library Reading Group Guide