Upon its publication in 1845, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself became an immediate best-seller. In addition to its far-reaching impact on the antislavery movement in the United States and abroad, Douglass's fugitive slave narrative won recognition for its literary excellence, which has since earned it a place among the classics of nineteenth-century American autobiography This Norton Critical Edition reprints the 1845 first edition of Douglass's compelling autobiography Explanatory annotations accompany the text. A rich selection of "Contexts" provides readers with contemporary perspective. Included are the little-known preface that Douglass wrote in 1846 expressly for the second Irish edition of his Narrative; a public exchange of letters between A. C. C. Thompson, a former slaveholder, and Douglass; three autobiographical portraits of Douglass's parents; Douglass's account of his escape from slavery which he chose not to include in the 1845 Narrative; samples of Douglass's use of his slave experience in two of his most influential antislavery speeches; and reminiscences of Douglass as both orator and friend by James Monroe Gregory and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. "Criticism" collects six essential assessments of the Narrative's historical and literary significance by William S. McFeely Peter Ripley Robert B. Stepto, William L. Andrews, Houston A. Baker, Jr., and Deborah E. McDowell. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

About the Series--Each Norton Critical Edition includes an authoritative text, contextual and source materials, and a wide range of interpretations from contemporary perspectives to the most current critical theory--as well as a bibliography and, in many cases, a chronology of the author's life and work.