[It’s been a while since I shared a series on scholarly books I’ve had the pleasure of checking out recently, and for this latest iteration I wanted to highlight recent reads that have offered inspiration in these very tough times!]
The other book that my sons gifted me for Father’s Day is a bit older, and indeed the only one in this week’s series that didn’t come out within the last year or so. I don’t really have an excuse for not having already read David W. Blight’s magisterial, Pulitzer-winning biography Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom (2018) other than, well, [gestures at everything]. But I also don’t know that it would have hit me nearly as hard in 2018 as it did in the summer of 2025, and for exhibit A I’ll share these lines from the conclusion of Blight’s Introduction: “It is Douglass’s story, though, that lasts and gives and instructs. There is no greater voice of America’s terrible transformation from slavery to freedom than Douglass’s. For all those who wish to escape from outward or inward captivity, they would do well to feel the pulses of this life, and to read the words of this voice. And then go act in the world.” At that point I was thoroughly hooked, and then Blight began his first chapter with a stunning analysis of a bracing and vital speech I knew far too little about: Douglass’s oration at the April 1876 dedication of Washington, DC’s Emancipation Memorial. Seriously, folks, don’t be like me and let another half-dozen years go by before you read this book.
Last recent read tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you think? Recent reads you’d share?
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