Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass by William S. McFeely; W.W. Norton, New York, $24.95

Until someone with the brilliance and sensibilities of, say an Arnold Rampersad (who wrote a comprehensive Langston Hughes biography) comes along, this will have to do. And on the whole it should do nicely. It is, after all, a full-length cradle-to-the-grave biography of the great 19th-century rebel with a serious cause, and the fortitude and oratorical skills to advance it. But buyers should know there is a novelistic quality to this work and at times you may think you're reading a book written for network mini-series executives.