In addition to its far-reaching impact on the antislavery movement inthe United States and abroad, Douglass’s fugitive slave narrative wonrecognition for its literary excellence, which has since earned it aplace among the classics of nineteenth-century American autobiography. This Norton Critical Edition reprints the 1845 firstedition of Douglass’s compelling work.  Explanatory annotationsaccompany the text.<br /> <br /> A rich selection of "Contexts" provides the reader with contemporaryperspectives.  Included are the little-known preface that Douglass wrotein 1846 for the second Irish edition; a public exchange of lettersbetween A. C. C. Thompson, a former slaveholder, and Douglass; threeautobiographical portraits of Douglass's parents; Douglass’s account ofhis escape from slavery, which he chose not to include in the 1845Narrative; samples of Douglass’s use of his slave experience in two ofhis most influential antislavery speeches; and reminiscences by JamesMonroe Gregory and Elizabeth Cady Stanton of Douglass as both oratorand friend.<br /> <br /> "Criticism" collects six essential assessments of the Narrative’shistorical and literary aspects, by William S. McFeely, Peter Ripley,Robert B. Stepto, William L. Andrews, Houston A. Baker, Jr., andDeborah E. McDowell. A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography areincluded.