Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man
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Narrated by:
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Timothy Sandefur
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By:
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Timothy Sandefur
About this listen
Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass rose to become one of the nation's foremost intellectuals - a statesman, author, lecturer, and scholar who helped lead the fight against slavery and racial oppression. Unlike other leading abolitionists, however, Douglass embraced the US Constitution, insisting that it was an essentially anti-slavery document and that its guarantees for individual rights belonged to all Americans, of whatever race.
Douglass spoke in his most popular lecture, "Self-Made Men", of people who rise through their own effort and devotion rather than circumstances of privilege. "If they have traveled far, they have made the road on which they have travelled. If they have ascended high, they have built their own ladder."
In this fast-paced biography, lawyer and author Timothy Sandefur examines the life and ideas of the nation's foremost "self-made man" - from his horrific experiences in slavery and his heroic escape to his eloquent demands for equal treatment by the federal government and his later career as statesman and intellectual. Throughout it all Douglass was guided by his belief in the sanctity of the individual.
"There is no Negro problem", Douglass insisted. "The problem is whether the American people have honesty enough, loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up to their own Constitution." Led by his dream of an America where all people would be free to make the most of themselves without hindrance, Douglass ultimately transformed the United States.
As the nation pauses to remember Douglass on his bicentennial, Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man gives us an insightful glimpse into the mind of one of America's greatest thinkers.
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The textbook you should have had in high school.
- By Saleh on 05-06-18
By: W. E. B. Du Bois, and others
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Race and Reunion
- The Civil War in American Memory
- By: David W. Blight
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Race and Reunion is a history of how the unity of white America was purchased through the increasing segregation of black and white memory of the Civil War. Blight delves deeply into the shifting meanings of death and sacrifice, Reconstruction, the romanticized South of literature, soldiers' reminiscences of battle, the idea of the Lost Cause, and the ritual of Memorial Day. He resurrects the variety of African-American voices and memories of the war and the efforts to preserve the emancipationist legacy in the midst of a culture built on its denial.
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How we remember matters
- By Adam Shields on 04-03-19
By: David W. Blight
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Thomas Jefferson
- By: R. B. Bernstein
- Narrated by: Phil Holland
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas Jefferson designed his own tombstone, describing himself simply as "Author of the Declaration of Independence and of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia". It is in this simple epitaph that R. B. Bernstein finds the key to this enigmatic Founder - not as a great political figure, but as leader of "a revolution of ideas that would make the world over again". In Thomas Jefferson, Bernstein offers the definitive short biography of this revered American - the first concise life in six decades. Bernstein deftly synthesizes the massive scholarship on his subject into a swift, insightful, evenhanded account.
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In-Depth and Interesting
- By Sarahi Nieves on 04-24-19
By: R. B. Bernstein
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Friends Divided
- John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
- By: Gordon S. Wood
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas Jefferson and John Adams could scarcely have come from more different worlds or been more different in temperament. Jefferson, the optimist with enough faith in the innate goodness of his fellow man to be democracy's champion, was an aristocratic Southern slave owner while Adams, the overachiever from New England's rising middling classes, painfully aware he was no aristocrat, was a skeptic about popular rule and a defender of a more elitist view of government.
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A Great Read
- By Jean on 12-22-17
By: Gordon S. Wood
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Thomas Jefferson
- A Biography of Spirit and Flesh
- By: Thomas S. Kidd
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas Jefferson was arguably the most brilliant and inspiring political writer in American history. But the ethical realities of his personal life and political career did not live up to his soaring rhetoric. Indeed, three tensions defined Jefferson’s moral life: democracy versus slavery, republican virtue versus dissolute consumption, and veneration for Jesus versus skepticism about Christianity. In this book, Thomas S. Kidd tells the story of Jefferson’s ethical life through the lens of these tensions.
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This version is the standard non in depth bio
- By Fred F on 03-28-24
By: Thomas S. Kidd
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Liberty's First Crisis
- Adams, Jefferson, and the Misfits Who Saved Free Speech
- By: Charles Slack
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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When the United States government passed the Bill of Rights in 1791, its uncompromising protection of speech and of the press were unlike anything the world had ever seen before. But by 1798, the once-dazzling young republic of the United States was on the verge of collapse. Suddenly, the First Amendment, which protected harsh commentary of the weak government, no longer seemed as practical. So that July, President John Adams and the Federalists in control of Congress passed an extreme piece of legislation that made criticism of the government and its leaders a crime.
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Marvelous Book....
- By Douglas on 01-07-17
By: Charles Slack
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Stony the Road
- Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow
- By: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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A profound new rendering of the struggle by African Americans for equality after the Civil War and the violent counterrevolution that resubjugated them, as seen through the prism of the war of images and ideas that have left an enduring racist stain on the American mind.
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Valuable examination of Jim Crow and Rise of White Supremacy in America
- By William J Brown on 05-14-19
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The American Political Tradition
- And the Men Who Made it
- By: Richard Hofstadter, Christopher Lasch - foreword
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The American Political Tradition is one of the most influential and widely read historical volumes of our time. First published in 1948, its elegance, passion, and iconoclastic erudition laid the groundwork for a totally new understanding of the American past. By writing a "kind of intellectual history of the assumptions behind American politics", Richard Hofstadter changed the way Americans understand the relationship between power and ideas in their national experience. Hofstadter was able to articulate, in a single work, a historical vision that inspired and shaped an entire generation.
By: Richard Hofstadter, and others
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Written Out of History
- The Forgotten Founders Who Fought Big Government
- By: Mike Lee
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In the earliest days of our nation, a handful of unsung heroes - including women, slaves, and an Iroquois chief - made crucial contributions to our republic. They pioneered the ideas that led to the Bill of Rights, the separation of powers, and the abolition of slavery. Yet their faces haven't been printed on our currency or carved into any cliffs. Instead they were marginalized, silenced, or forgotten - sometimes by an accident of history, sometimes by design.
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Interesting American History- not the usual stuff
- By Marie on 06-19-17
By: Mike Lee
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An African American and Latinx History of the United States
- By: Paul Ortiz
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Spanning more than 200 years, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history arguing that the "Global South" was crucial to the development of America as we know it. Ortiz challenges the notion of westward progress, and shows how placing African American, Latinx, and Indigenous voices unapologetically front and center transforms American history into the story of the working class organizing against imperialism.
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I had to return
- By Andrew Alvarez on 05-19-20
By: Paul Ortiz
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The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
- By: Robert Middlekauff
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
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Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
What listeners say about Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Matthew Kelly
- 04-13-18
Douglass and the US Constitution
Where does Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Excellent and insightful biography of Douglass. Frederick Douglass was such an important figure in the difficult history of race relations in our country. Sandefur connects Douglass' life and writings to the struggle for equality, especially within the context and interpretations of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. In addition, Douglass' point-of-view on realizing racial equality is analyzed and compared to historical and current thinking. Sandefur is very clear and excellent reader.
What other book might you compare Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man to and why?
The book inspired me to re-read the Douglass autobiography.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The relationship between Douglass and Lincoln was fascinating and gave me a new perspective of the political struggles and public perceptions during the Civil War years.
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2 people found this helpful
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- lenramone
- 09-25-18
Great book, greater vision.
The narrating was engaging, which propelled this amazing story, that has far too long been overlooked by modern America.
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- Erin A Roth
- 07-11-21
Fantastic
Full disclosure, I went to high school with Tim, so I am a tad biased about how wonderfully intelligent and thoughtful this book is … having said that, I have a BA and MA in English and this book flows so beautifully through its prose. Tim writes with such clarity and showcases Douglass’ sharp mind. A must read.
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- evelyn
- 07-08-20
Douglass, true American
Fought for color-blind self-reliance for true equality despite horrors of white oppression. Watershed reading for me
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- Hannah K
- 04-16-18
Great Biography and History
This is the first book by Sandefur I’ve read and I look forward to reading his other books. It’s not only a biography of a great, self-made scholar and intellectual, it’s also a sobering history lesson. It is beautifully written and a must-read for students of history and any lover of liberty.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Martin Siekierzycki
- 03-26-18
Great Storytelling
Excellent book, I've admired Frederick Douglass for a long time, but only knew the more common information about the man. I really enjoyed learning more about the man told in an east-to-follow type of way.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Tamara Hilton
- 03-23-18
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
this is the first book I've completed in a single day. I enjoyed the telling. I found it a tempting tease to dive further into the subject. it is sussinct and direct, so that it is an perfect entry for a young reader .
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3 people found this helpful
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- Mariann Boone
- 07-07-18
great man great book
this is a great to the point book about a great man need a movie
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- Cysgod
- 04-02-18
a great book about a brave and fascinating man
The narration for for this book is fabulous. I thought I already knew a lot about Frederick Douglass, now I feel a kinship with him.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amber Panda
- 04-23-18
My one wish
I wish it were longer. All Americans need to read or hear this material. We cannot move forward unless we understand where we originate.
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1 person found this helpful