Anyone who thinks slavery was useful to slaves needs to read this personal account. By the time Frederick Douglas was in his mid-20s, he had worked for several different people as a slave. Some of these people were decent given the circumstances and helped him learn to read. Others performed acts of abject cruelty. The latter far outnumbered the former. In the past I have read a number of slave narratives. However, he so eloquently describes the beatings, shootings, and other atrocities that it is horrifying to read. The fact that he endured so much at such an early age and became the famous abolitionist, orator, and writer later in life speaks to his remarkable intellectual abilities and emotional strength.