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By William S. McFeely. (New York: Norton, 1991. xiv + 465 pp. $24.95.)
William S. McFeely brings to the familiar Frederick Douglass story an engaging sensitivity to the complex interactions of middle-class Victorian sexuality, the evolving American culture of race, and the class distinctions of the early industrial era. McFeely also brings to Douglass's story a richness of resources never before assembled. In addition to the extensive Douglass collection in the Library of Congress, McFeely uses data unearthed by Dickson Preston and documents assembled by John Blassingame and John R. McKivigan, editors of the Douglass Papers. The work is not flawless: The account of John Brown's raid, for example, is wrong on several points. But overall, McFeely brilliantly recaptures Douglass's unique effectiveness as a champion of freedom and equality.
From his earliest abolitionist addresses to his final work...