The President and the Freedom Fighter: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Their Battle to Save America's Soul by Brian Kilmeade

 

5 out of 5 stars  *****

A wonderful read about the lives of two self-made men from different parts of the country in the mid 1800's. Their fates converge in a time of great stress and human suffering. Each possess qualities they admire in the other. Together they cause the fundamental changes needed in a time America needs them most, the Civil War. At first, Abe Lincoln, the president, does not commit to the abolitionists' cause to put an end to slavery. A self-educated, runaway slave who becomes a gifted orator against slavery, Frederick Douglas, influences the president enough for him to champion the Emancipation Proclamation which initiates eventual freedom for all slaves in a United States of America. Brian Kilmeade does a great job paralleling these two historical giants as men driven by the moral standards delineated in the Declaration of Independence. He captures their strength and poise; qualities that enable the violent clash of ideas to dwell inside earnest and pragmatic leaders who serve one nation and the notion that a Constitutional Republic can exist in harmony once the stain of slavery is removed.