Review: An Important Historical Document
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 28, 2013
The narrative of the Life and Times of Frederick Douglassis a marvelous rendition of the pre-Lincoln period up through1845. The book details the evils of slavery and the personaldispositions of slaveowners. Douglass explains how oneslave-owner actually paid him a salary.The reader comes away with something very important.Douglass realized the importance of learning how to read.He explained that he would bring a book along to do everymajor chore. People who read about Douglass can tracethe evolution of his writing from the elemental to the moreadvanced later on when he actually met President Lincoln.The book explains how Douglass changed his identity several times.For instance, he called himself Mr.Johnson in New York. The authoreven delved into the persona of slaveholders. Some were very harshwhile others were kinder. The reader gets a sense that Douglassyearned to be free in any event. This freedom was to come 18 yearslater after the Emancipation Proclamation and his famous meetingwith President Lincoln at the White House.The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an importanthistorical document for all Americans to read at some point in time.In fact, the sooner you read the book - the better.