Must read!

I find it hard to have conversations on issues regarding slavery and current issues in American when a vast majority of people have no real historical reference point. This book will be a great start to defining and understanding the true North as we all move through this racial wildernesses in America.

8 people found this helpful

Monotone delivery

I really didn't care for the performance, as much as the content resonated.

It was slow, monotone, and the reader seemed unfamiliar with the content based on mispronouncing mr. severe as mr. Sever-y, which might not be as big a deal if it weren't explicitly talked about in his first autobiography.

6 people found this helpful

Mixed emotions.

While I fully enjoyed the history, it's clear that Mr. Douglass was a far more intelligent man than I am. I'd have to say that the times when I had to pay extra attention to follow were due to my personal lack of literary acuity.
I did have trouble some times picturing him because he usually lacks to mention his age in many circumstances.
I also did not like the voice of the reader. It wasn't until I was 75% through the book that his voice, delivered with lack of emotion and with constant monotone, grew own me.
All that said, it was a very well crafted novel, with history and truth of the utmost importance. Mr. Douglass is a true hero.

4 people found this helpful

EXCELLENT

I found the narrator compelling and think that had Douglas himself read his book to us it would have been in the same measured tone. The appalling story needs no emotional addition to be effective.

3 people found this helpful

Orator

Douglas still today represents the best voice for the African American population in America for intellectual equality, his genius rivals any and all academic scholars in his defense of the humanity of his people!

2 people found this helpful

eloquent reading of an american masterpiece

a piece of biographical non-fiction that often reads with the epicness of a fictitious film.

1 person found this helpful

A realistic view of slavery and freedom.

Fredrick Douglas layed out for the reader a clear and critical discussion of slavery and race relations in his United States. The read kept my interest throughout the story. The introduction was also compelling.

A 1st-person account of slavery and abolition.

This is the fascinating, heartbreaking, yet inspiring true account of Frederick Douglass, from young slave boy, to escape, to world-renowned spokesman for freedom and equality never-before witnessed, in his own words. It gripped me from the first sentence, and at the last sentence left me with only, "Wow! ... Wow!"

A GREAT JOY

An ingenious intellectual and emotional tour de force.
Stirring and dread-inducing and heartwarming and uplifting and Ennobling.
It is astonishing to note that Frederick Douglass invented new literary techniques in this book.
What an uncommonly gifted writer.
It really was one of the great joys of my life to read.

amazing true story

a must-read to anybody that wants to know the history of America. it is a ugly story of slavery and a triumphant American story of freedom.