Sunday, June 22, 2008

Frederick Douglass and Ayaan Hirsi Ali


A nice article comparing the lives of Frederick Douglass and Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Parallel Lives:
Born a little over 150 years apart, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (born 1969) both had the experience, on the threshold of adulthood--he was 20, she 22--of fleeing the culture they'd grown up in and entering another. For both, it was a run toward freedom. In each case, a short train ride and a name change to foil pursuers were the fateful turning points in a remarkable life they would recount in bestselling memoirs.

Hat tip to David Frum, who also drew the comparison here.

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