, by , is part of the series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of :All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. pulls together a constellation of influencesbiographical, historical, and literaryto enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.No book except perhaps had as powerful an impact on the abolitionist movement as . But while Stowe wrote about imaginary characters, Douglasss book is a record of his own remarkable life.Born a slave in 1818 on a plantation in Maryland, Douglass taught himself to read and write. In 1845, seven years after escaping to the North, he published , the first of three autobiographies. This book calmly but dramatically recounts the horrors and the accomplishments of his early yearsthe daily, casual brutality of the white masters; his painful efforts to educate himself; his decision to find freedom or die; and his harrowing but successful escape.An astonishing orator and a skillful writer, Douglass became a newspaper editor, a political activist, and an eloquent spokesperson for the civil rights of African Americans. He lived through the Civil War, the end of slavery, and the beginning of segregation. He was celebrated internationally as the leading black intellectual of his day, and his story still resonates in ours.