Review by Choice Review
McFeely's elegant interpretive biography of Douglass builds on the sturdy foundation of Benjamin Quarles's classic Frederick Douglass (1948). Crafted from thorough research and written in beautiful prose, McFeely's book examines anew many of the Douglass myths--some, in fact, that the black abolitionist himself set forth in his influential Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, (1845). McFeely argues that for all of Douglass's monumental contributions to his race, he nonetheless exhibited hard-driving ambition, arrogance, and contempt for working-class people. Douglass proved inconsistent in his commitment to African American causes. In the 1870s, for example, he opposed the emigration of the black "Exodusters" to Kansas. Though vague on Douglass's views concerning race, especially racial amalgamation, McFeely correctly underscores Douglass's unflagging dedication to the dignity and equality of all men and women. His life symbolizes the heroic triumph of the slave over the barbarities of enslavement and of the freedman over proscription and racial hatred. For public, college, and university libraries. -J. D. Smith, North Carolina State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
McFeely's biography of Frederick Douglass supplies a welcome portrait of the slave-turned-abolitionist-orator and a careful reconsideration of his ideas and writings. The chapters on Douglass' youth and adolescence in Maryland establish not only the harshness of the slave life he witnessed firsthand but also the special treatment he was granted by the Baltimore family in which he was raised. The ambivalence that this created for Douglass is examined in detail, particularly in juxtaposition with the dark picture Douglass' own biographical writings give of this period. Douglass' escape on the underground railroad and his activities in the abolitionist movement, both in the U.S. and internationally, are also recorded. In addition, McFeely offers criticism of Douglass as a man who distanced himself from his black heritage. McFeely is also the author of Grant: A Biography (1981). Notes, bibliography; to be indexed. ~--John Brosnahan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A runaway slave at 20, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) won worldwide renown as a spokesman for the abolitionist cause, edited an influential antislavery weekly and helped organize black regiments during the Civil War. After the Emancipation Proclamation he aggressively championed full citizenship for his fellow black Americans. In this unhurried and beautifully crafted biography, the author presents the known facts of Douglass's stormy life and reveals the man behind the icon: his complex and ambiguous friendships with William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown and other figures of the day; his gossip-stirring relationships with several dynamic white women; his controversial tenure as U.S. minister to Haiti near the end of his life. McFeely analyzes Douglass's autobiographical writings, probing insightfully into the complicated psyche of this heroic figure. The biography is a major work of scholarship that brings into vivid focus the nature of slave culture and racial prejudice in 19th-century America. McFeely, a history professor at the University of Georgia, won a Pulitizer Prize for Grant: A Biography. Photos. BOMC, History Book Club and QPB selections. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Frederick Douglass, one of the noblest of 19th-century figures, recounted his life in three autobiographies. The first and most compelling, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), is indespensable for its moving account of his self-education under slavery and his escape to the North. But in the achievements of Douglass's long and active career there are complex social, political, and psychological issues that his self-portraits alone cannot entirely encompass. In attempting to do justice to these issues, Pulitzer Prize-winning author McFeely has written a brilliant book that ranks with the finest achievements in 20th-century biography. In faultless prose, backed by intensive scholarship, McFeely steers a level course through Douglass's turbulent odyssey as the nation's leading orator and figurehead of the strife-ridden antislavery and Civil Rights movements. In subjecting Douglass's words and deeds to keen and concise analysis at practically every turn, McFeely reveals Douglass's personal vanities and political indiscretions, but after surviving the close scrutiny, Douglass's greatness stands that much more secure. Robert Sevra's flawless narration makes this a program that, along with Douglass's Narrative, is a must for every collection.-Peter Josyph, New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
YA-- This excellent biography fluently tells the life story of Douglass, one of the 19th century's most famous writers and speakers on abolitionist and human rights causes. It traces his life from his birth as a slave in Maryland, through his self-education, escape to freedom, and subsequent lionization as a renowned orator in England and the United States. Readers familiar with his life will be grateful for the little-known information about his family, and a general audience will enjoy the well-rounded, literate stories of Douglass's contemporaries. Fascinating, too, are accounts of the era's politics, such as the racist views held by some abolitionist leaders and the ways in which many policies made in post-Civil War times have worked to the detriment of today's civil rights movement. The chapter on Frederick Douglass and John Brown is, in itself, interesting enough to commend this powerful biography. The seldom-seen photographs, the careful chapter notes, documentation, and acknowledgements will encourage YAs to become not only dedicated Douglass historians but also avid William McFeely fans.-- Isabelle Bligh, Edison High School, Alexandria, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Univ. of Georgia history professor McFeely follows up his Pulitzer Prize-winning Grant (1981) with a more psychologically daunting and intriguing subject: Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), the fiery black orator and editor of the abolitionist newspaper North Star. Much of this biography covers ground explored by previous chroniclers: Douglass's birth to a Maryland slave and an unknown white father; escape to freedom; close association with--and subsequent break from--William Lloyd Garrison and the American Anti-Slavery Society; fireless recruitment of black soldiers in the Civil War; and postwar service in government posts that did not measure up to his talents. Douglass's three autobiographies--despite starkly compelling insights into his lot as slave and triumph as freeman--contain puzzling gaps and inconsistencies about his private life that McFeely tries to address. The abolitionist, McFeely contends, turned former master Thomas Auld from a morally ambiguous figure into an antebellum caricature. Dissatisfied with his first marriage, a 45-year misalliance with an illiterate ex-slave, Douglass scandalized associates by pursuing close friendships with two white women and by later marrying a third. However, given Douglass's stony reticence, McFeely often has to resort to conjecture about his subject's interior life in these instances. On surer, more documented ground with public affairs, he offers searching moral scrutiny about Douglass's post-Civil War period, when he championed women's suffrage, initially ignored the Republican party's retreat from Reconstruction and civil rights, and finally unleashed a magnificent denunciation of lynching and pseudoscientific race supremacy theories. Try as he might, McFeely can't tear off the veil covering the private Douglass. Yet the public agitator--brilliant, fiercely proud, anticlerical, nobody's Uncle Tom-comes fully and vibrantly to life. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
