Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

Frederick Douglass died over one hundred years ago, but his spirit endures in this short account he wrote of his life. Brief yet detailed, it resonates with the same subdued anger and passion against injustice that marked his later work. That spirit of controlled fury has been caught in the reading by Pete Papageorge. Though slow and deliberate, it carries with it an undertone of strong feeling. His deep voice more than suggests Douglass's authority and his position as the grandfather and living symbol of the abolitionist movement. When the ex-slave bristles at the horrors in the slave-holding system and methodically details the damage done by that system to the economy and psyche of the South, it may be Papageorge's voice we hear, but it is Douglass's scathing condemnation ringing through the ages. P.E.F. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine


Frederick Douglass's autobiography takes us from his birth to the time he began his activities as an abolitionist. In a work filled with pain and pathos, Thompson's low-key and understated, at times almost deadpan, style of reading brings the passion and irony of Douglass's text into bold relief. It's the perfect way to read this intense work. One marvels at Douglass's ability to restrain intense emotion in describing the pain and injustice he endured as a slave and his longing to be free. M.T.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine