It is impossible to have an in-depth discussion about American history and ignore Frederick Douglass, but we have yet to discover the individual behind the very public mask. There have been numerous books devoted to Douglass's life and works, and Philip S. Foner (1950) and John Blassingame (1979) have published editions of his essays, letters and speeches. In this volume, John Earnest seeks to discover the complex and private man. Instead of anthologizing letters and speeches by Douglass, he adopts a new and fascinating approach by including accounts by the famous and the unknown as they capture Douglass in a fleeting moment, away from the public eye. The book forms part of an In His/Her Own Time series and Douglass is the first African American to be honoured in this collection. He joins the ranks of Thomas Jefferson, Edgar Allan Poe, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry David Thoreau, to name a few. This work is sorely needed, and hopefully it will be the first of many to celebrate the life and works of other African Americans, such as Booker T. Washington or Ida B. Wells. The choice of Douglass, though, as the first African American in this series speaks volumes.

Earnest believes that Douglass “is not merely celebrated for his story, he is also contained by it” (ix), and the narrative of his life now reads primarily as his escape from slavery to freedom. Most American studies scholars are familiar with certain key moments in Douglass's life: Sophia Auld tried to teach Douglass to read but these lessons were cut short because she was breaking the law; Douglass fought Edward Covey, the “slave-breaker”; he escaped to Massachusetts in 1838 with the help of Anna Murray, a free African American woman whom he later married; and after speaking about slavery publicly for the first time he was recruited by William Lloyd Garrison and the US abolitionist movement. When The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was published in 1845, he was forced to prove his authorship of the work in America and in the British Isles. Few believed that a former enslaved African American could write or speak so eloquently.

Earnest uses three groups to define “signs of turbulence” in Douglass's life: race, politics and religion. Highlighting the racism of white abolitionists and his “independent spirit,” Douglass faced discrimination from opponents, friends and allies. Indeed, Douglass had a complicated relationship with William Lloyd Garrison, and Earnest chooses some interesting sources to illustrate what he terms the “Great Controversy” to refer to the very public split between Douglass and Garrison. Douglass also faced an internal struggle with regard to his views on religion. He often wrote and lectured on the ways in which American churches were instrumental in maintaining slavery, a position which irked not only potential northern supporters but also some abolitionists. Douglass believed that anti-slavery was a moral crusade, one that would repair the Christianity infiltrated by slavery in certain areas of the South.

The volume includes a wide-ranging selection of primary documents including newspapers, letters, and memoirs written by black and white, male and female contributors that vary in length from one to a few pages. Some focus on his abolitionist work, political appointments, and legacy as a “distinguished colored man” (Figure 9). William White, James Buffum, Booker T. Washington, and William Lloyd Garrison Jr. are a few of the famous names that offer their opinions on Douglass, but there are others which provide an entirely new perspective: Reverend Francis J. Grimke's account of Douglass's second marriage to Helen Pitts reveals a deeply personal side to Douglass and the prejudice he faced for his interracial marriage. Theodore Stanton's description of Douglass in Paris is a masterful entry that hints at his international legacy, a legacy with which many Douglass scholars are still not familiar. There is a wonderful anecdote recounting Douglass's purchasing of a violin and of his subsequent performance in Paris, after he told the story of how a secondhand instrument had “re-energised” him in London during the 1840s. Jane Marsh Parker, Douglass's neighbour in Rochester, gives a particularly fascinating account by narrating how “every one of note who came to the city was pretty sure to call upon Frederick Douglass” (45). His popularity with the local schoolchildren provides a small but unique insight into the daily life of Douglass in his own home. Finally, Paul Laurence Dunbar's and Cordelia Ray's poems offer an interesting glimpse into Douglass's rich cultural legacy, an area of research that would benefit from further investigation. As these late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century contributions demonstrate, Douglass continued to inspire people long after his death.

What is missing, however, is correspondence from British abolitionists. Although there are sources that discuss and refer to Douglass's time abroad, a letter from supporters in Britain or extracts from British newspapers would have offered a different and transatlantic perspective on Douglass in his own time as well as his legacy. The inclusion of George Thompson, the Estlin family in Bristol or Richard D. Webb in Dublin, for example, would have offered important insights into the “Great Controversy” as well as some praiseworthy and critical opinions of Douglass's personal life. Earnest mentions an “independent spirit” (xxi) during this controversy and this was foreshadowed in Britain when a number of decisions Douglass made in the 1840s irked Garrisonian abolitionists, from the purchase of his freedom to his choice of speaking at select anti-slavery meetings. Furthermore, Douglass's success on the British stage was partly due to his attacks on American Christianity and how it was intertwined with American slavery. If religion was a main source of contention between Douglass and his supporters – a “sign of turbulence” – then a source from this conflict in Britain would have enriched the volume (xiii).

In summary, this book establishes itself as a tour de force by offering a wonderful selection of sources that will be invaluable material for both established and emerging scholars of Douglass's life and work. Earnest has chosen primary documents that best illustrate the private Douglass. The book will make a vital contribution to the fields of African American studies, American literature, slavery and abolition, and nineteenth-century American history.