Radical Passion examines eighty essays and reports on the United States 18521865 by the GermanAmerican journalist Ottilie Assing 18191884 along with twentyseven extant letters from Assing to Frederick Douglass during the years 18701879. A keen and critical observer of the American scene before and during the Civil War Assing was passionately committed to her personal freedom and to political and social equality for African Americans. She believed in radical social movements backed the German Revolution of 1848 and became an enthusiastic supporter of radical abolitionism womens emancipation and civil rights for black Americans. For almost three decades she and Frederick Douglass were close intellectual collaborators and lovers. The reports and essays originally written in German are presented in their first English translation an introduction provides biographical background and historical context.