Readers hoping to encounter the vibrant scene-setting often found in biographies by McCullough or Chernow will discover that this author’s style is more reminiscent of a relatively concise Robert Caro.īlight’s account of Douglass’s early life as a slave and his escape to freedom at the age of twenty-one will capture the attention of everyone, however. This book is far more history than biography and the 764-page narrative demands an uncommon degree of focus and perseverance. Readers expecting a colorful and carefree journey through Douglass’s life are likely to be disappointed, however. What resulted is a weighty, thorough, meticulously thoughtful and incredibly penetrating analysis of Frederick Douglass’s life and times. He has written a half-dozen books focused on the Civil War and its aftermath.īlight’s biography was catalyzed by the author’s lifelong interest in Douglass and his access to a collection of privately-held documents covering the last decades of his subject’s life. Blight is Professor of American History at Yale University and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition. David Blight’s “ Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom” was published in 2018 and received the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2019.
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