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jacquesdevilliers's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
heybalestoo's review
2.0
Though, I’ll admit I’m not much of a biography reader in general, I was incredibly excited to read this. And, while I think that the life of Frederick Douglass in incredible and worth understanding and learning about, I could never get over the fact that I was reading a book written by a white man, telling a deeply personal story about a man born a slave. It was the consistent references and quotations from Douglass’s autobiographies, for one thing. I may pick it back up as I’m really interested in learning more but, I think I want to try to read one of his autobiographies first.
victoriafrost1991's review
4.0
Three and a half stars, if I could place it.
I do find that the biography was highly research and well written. Coming into the biography of Fredrick Douglass, it was not surprising how academically it was written. Yet, it was insightful to learn about how Douglass changed from Pre-Civil war and slavery era to how he was as an elder man with years experience within his professional, familial and other aspects of his life.
Yet, I found it a bit dry at times when reading. Also, a bit repetitive as to what kind of orator Fredrick Douglass was or in which form of argument he was in with allies/supporters to those he was in agreement. I am not sure if I truly learned of the man or not due to how Douglass was shifting his own story ever so slightly to his audiences. It is understandable to be engaging and obtain support, yet, it was also frustrating.
However, I truly learned more about the man in this than I would have ever done in a school classroom that just did a paragraph of Fredrick Douglass used to be slave who then became a famous lecturer against slavery and garnering his freedom.
I do find that the biography was highly research and well written. Coming into the biography of Fredrick Douglass, it was not surprising how academically it was written. Yet, it was insightful to learn about how Douglass changed from Pre-Civil war and slavery era to how he was as an elder man with years experience within his professional, familial and other aspects of his life.
Yet, I found it a bit dry at times when reading. Also, a bit repetitive as to what kind of orator Fredrick Douglass was or in which form of argument he was in with allies/supporters to those he was in agreement. I am not sure if I truly learned of the man or not due to how Douglass was shifting his own story ever so slightly to his audiences. It is understandable to be engaging and obtain support, yet, it was also frustrating.
However, I truly learned more about the man in this than I would have ever done in a school classroom that just did a paragraph of Fredrick Douglass used to be slave who then became a famous lecturer against slavery and garnering his freedom.
ljmilman's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.25
This biography was incredibly thorough and dense. The page count did not bely the sheer amount of detail was inside. I’m glad I read it, and must note it was a labor at times to do so.