Former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass tells his incredible, painful story of going from a slave to a free man and eventually an abolitionist leader.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave is widely considered to be the most significant work to have been written by a former slave. This memoir, first published in 1845 set the tone for the American abolitionist movement. Within four months of its publication, more than five thousand copies had made their ways into the hands of the American people.

Part of what made this memoir so key, was that it not only described Douglass' life as a slave, but it also reveals his tremendous journey to becoming a free man. Douglass would go on to become a leader in the abolitionist movement with his future anti-slavery writings.

Key reading for sociologists and historians this elegantly designed clothbound edition features an elastic closure and a new introduction by Eric A. Hairston.