Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery and ended up as one of the most powerful voices in American public life. Sidney Morrison's novel follows him through the escape that made him a free man, his remaking of himself, and the Civil War years that carried him to prominence. Along the way he becomes a fierce abolitionist, a gifted orator and the founder of The North Star, working alongside figures such as Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown and Susan B. Anthony to end slavery and shape American democracy.

Morrison is less interested in the monument than in the man behind it. The book looks closely at Douglass's inner life, the choices he made, and what his greatness cost him and the people close to him. Anna Murray Douglass, his wife, played a key part in his escape. Julia Griffith, a British abolitionist, grew so close to him that scandal followed. Ottilie Assing, a German journalist, died by suicide after Douglass married another woman.

The result is a portrait of a towering public figure who was also a deeply complicated private one, with a life full of conflict, consequence and very human feeling. It is historical fiction built on a real life, written for readers who want to see the person as well as the legend.