Abstract
Published under the auspices of the long fellow Institute at Harvard University, which is devoted to promoting study of the multilingual traditions in American literature, Christoph Lohmann's Radical Passion is indispensable for anyone interested in nineteenth century American politics and society, slavery, race relations, and-above all-the drama of Frederick Douglass's life. Beginning in 1856, when the German journalist Ottilie Assing visited Douglass's Rochester home to seek his approval and help for her translation of his autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom, Assing and Douglass shared an intense relationship that was intellectual, emotional, and, for a time, sexual.