The Powers of Dignity

“The Powers of Dignity is an impressive, thorough, and detailed reconstruction of Frederick Douglass as political philosopher, and should immediately become a major reference text not just for Douglass scholarship but also for the broader project of retrieving and theorizing a distinct African American political tradition. Nick Bromell's book distinguishes itself by his impressive interdisciplinary ambition to bring together philosophy, literary studies, political theory, cognitive science, and new materialism. This is an exciting reconceptualization of the political cartography.” - Charles W. Mills, author of Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism

“Nick Bromell writes beautifully, and he has an illuminating story to tell about Frederick Douglass's political imagination from the 1840s to the 1890s. As Bromell shows, Douglass's political thinking about race and democracy was constantly in flux, mediated by his experience in slavery and his commitment to the Black freedom struggle. This is an exemplary contribution to our understanding of one of the most important figures in American history.” - Robert S. Levine, author of The Lives of Frederick Douglass

"This is an important study at a time when critical race theory is being banned in states like Oklahoma and Texas. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty."
  - R. T. Prus, Choice

“The Powers of Dignity is exactly the kind of book our nation and era needs.... [It] is both an exciting contribution to the literature on Frederick Douglass and a sobering reminder that the roots of our democracy and the theorizing that accompanies it are ‘a site of endless struggle.’” - Ange-Marie Hancock, Perspectives on Politics

“[The Powers of Dignity]—gracefully written, wide-ranging, and compelling—makes a laudable contribution to Douglass scholarship. Scholars in political theory, literature, African American studies, and related fields will benefit from Nick Bromell’s excellent monograph.” - Nathan Pippenger, Review of Politics

"Bromell’s careful academic study of the sources in enslavement and in fugitive freedom of Douglass’s thought and politics is a work of effective and rigorous scholarship, ultimately original and persuasive in its principal claim of locating in the life and work of Douglass an original and still-relevant public political philosophy that, though using the conventional language of natural rights liberalism extended and indeed broke with its inherent limitations to fashion a philosophy of unity, solidarity, struggles against all forms of oppression and injustice in a democratic republic."
  - Inderjeet Parmar, The Wire

“The Powers of Dignity is an ingenious, determined, and stimulating interpretation of a part of Frederick Douglass’s political philosophy. . . . I greatly admire Bromell’s book, particularly for its subtlety and originality.” - Bernard R. Boxill, American Political Thought

“At once dialectical and venturesome, it reimagines the mind of Frederick Douglass on Douglass’s own exceptional terms. One hopes academic philosophy and US political thought take notice.”