Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

[Al Mackey]

New review.

https://studycivilwar.wordpress.com/2019/05/28/frederick-douglass-prophet-of-freedom/

 

[Carmel]

This is an excellent review of the book. You have highlighted parts where David Blight masterfully shows the complexities of the era, such as his description of the schisms that emerged among that courageous but incredibly tiny movement of Abolitionists in the mid 19th century. As your review shows, Douglass was a complex man, on the one hand a very important voice in making people on the free states understand the brutality and hypocrisy of slavery, someone capable of recognizing the injustice of denying civil liberties to women, but on the other hand sometimes breathtakingly insensitive to the feelings of his long-suffering wife. He was an important social critic and tireless advocate for racial justice, but was as prone as anyone else was in the Gilded Age of using a patronage appointment to give jobs to his perennially underachieving children.

Blight certainly has a wonderful writing style, and it’s not surprising that this book is garnering numerous awards. It’s well worth a read.

 

[Al Mackey]

This is an excellent review of the book.  You have highlighted parts where David Blight masterfully shows the complexities of the era, such as his description of the schisms that emerged among that courageous but incredibly tiny movement of Abolitionists in the mid 19th century. As your review shows, Douglass was a complex man, on the one hand a very important voice in making people on the free states understand the brutality and hypocrisy of slavery, someone capable of recognizing the injustice of denying civil liberties to women, but on the other hand sometimes breathtakingly insensitive to the feelings of his long-suffering wife. He was an important social critic and tireless advocate for racial justice, but was as prone as anyone else was in the Gilded Age of using a patronage appointment to give jobs to his perennially underachieving children.

Blight certainly has a wonderful writing style, and it’s not surprising that this book is garnering numerous awards.  It’s well worth a read.

Thank you for your kind words, Carmel. I agree with you about Dr. Blight's writing style. The book was a real pleasure to read.