Frederick Douglass

July 1, 2005
Gr 5-9 -These biographies of individuals connected to the Civil War are visually attractive, with appealing covers, maps, and numerous illustrations (both black and white and color). Unfortunately, the contents stand in poor contrast to the pretty pictures. "Garrison" and "Stowe" contain misspellings, internal inconsistencies, major errors, and numerous omissions. "Garrison" is also sloppily researched, with 10 of 12 footnotes incorrectly quoted from their sources. Douglass, meanwhile, is woefully unbalanced, devoting two-thirds of the book to his time as a slave (through age 20) and the rest to his remaining -impressive and influential -57 years of life. Crucial omissions and explanations pile up endlessly. Of the available titles on Douglass, Sharman Russell's Frederick Douglass (Chelsea House, 1989) is the most thorough and complete. Jean Fritz's Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher Preachers (Putnam, 1994) is excellent, although it ends at the conclusion of the Civil War. -"Ann W. Moore, Schenectady County Public Library, NY"

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