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John Stauffer, Harvard professor of English discusses his book, Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln were the self made men of their time. One man was a former slave and a radical reformer who became one of the nation’s most brilliant writers and speakers. The other was an outsider, born dirt-poor, who became one of America’s greatest presidents. While the Civil War raged, the two titans—Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln—formed an unlikely friendship that changed the nation’s course.

Stauffer traces how each man used the other—and how their political game ultimately led to mutual admiration and respect.