Harriet Beecher Stowe Books

This book is a support book in the "Looking at Literature through Primary Sources" series. Uncle Tom's Cabin may be appropriate for a Civil War unit, whether or not students actually read the book. Using this series to provide information for students to do group research projects might be useful. This book is rather like having spectacular Cliff Notes with lots of visuals.

Complete Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Huge collection. (40+ Works) FREE Author's biography and stories in the trial version

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is one of my favorite novels. The novel became very influential because it criticized the cruelty of slavery.

I found this book very well written. It is interesting that the author chose not only to show the terrible suffering that came from slavery, but also she revealed how slavery extracts a toll on the master. Personally it exemplifies how religion can (as in many cases throughout history) support and justify cruelty and violence. This book should stir everyone at the gut level. I don't want to forget to add that I like the Modern Library Classics format. At the end of the book is discussion questions and commentary by other famous authors.

There are some books which one gets to know by reputation before one actually reads them. "Uncle Tom's Cabin (or, Life Among the Lowly)" by Harriet Beecher Stowe is one of them. Whether from studying American History and slavery, and hearing the pejorative term "Uncle Tom", one gets a strong sense for certain aspects of the book. For whatever reason, I had not read the book until recently, when studying in more detail the history of slavery in the U.S. made this a necessity in my view.

The history of how this book came about is important to the overall experience as well. The 1850 Compromise had seemed to settle the slavery question, before Stephen A. Douglas used its existence as a justification for his argument that the Missouri Compromise had been overturned. However, part of the Compromise included a slave-catching bill which created outcries from the abolitionist movement, and led a thirty-nine year old Harriet Beecher Stowe to write what would become perhaps the most important publication in the history of the Untied States.

The change in public sentiment after its publication was dramatic. Its initial publication in the "National Era" as a 40 part serial, starting with the June 5, 1851 issue, did not draw a lot of notice outside of the abolitionist movement, but its publication as a complete book on March 20th of 1852 resulted in it being the most successful novel ever written up to that point. It was called by one critic at the time "The most valuable addition that America has made to English literature", and it has become a piece of history itself, as well as a classic piece of literature.

In the initial part of the story there are three key slave characters to this story: the title character, Uncle Tom, Eliza (there is also her young son Harry), and George Harris. George is Eliza's husband and Harry's father, and is owned by Mr. Harris, who abuses George, mainly due to his being jealous of George's talents. Eliza, Harry, and Tom are owned by Mr. and Mrs. Shelby. The Shelby's are good to their slaves, yet due to some financial mishaps, Arthur Shelby decides that he is forced to sell off Tom, and is then talked into selling Harry as well to fully clear his debt. This is the opening scene of the novel, and it sets the tone for the rest of the book.

Eliza learns of the sale of Harry and flees with her son in order to save him. She is also aware of her husband's intent to flee from his brutal master. George does also flee and both of them make their way into Ohio where they manage to unite. Tom, learns the reason for his sale, and decides that it is best for his master and the rest of the slaves owned by the Shelby's, and thus he obediently goes along with the sale. The fleeing slaves go north, while Tom is taken south.

The three characters are very distinct and important. Stowe uses Eliza to show the perspective of a female slave. Her family kept apart by slavery, and threatened to be parted from her son, she flees in fear and in do so gains freedom and her family reunited. George is equally important, as by defying an abusive owner, he too gains his freedom and his family by not following the law. In his words we hear the echo of Patrick Henry when he says "I'll be free, or I'll die!" Stowe uses these characters to show the fallacy of the common belief of the time that slaves don't have the same sense of family. She also defies common belief by portraying George as smart and talented and passionate about his thirst for freedom. Of course, the comparison between the dire conditions for George in slavery as well as the broken family situation verses that which they have once they flee is significant. Stowe leaves George, Eliza, and Harry for a long period in the middle of the book, but she does return to them in a chapter near the end to finish their story.

The other character, Uncle Tom, is the most controversial. His almost infuriating obedience and subservience to his masters in the story resulted in the creation of the derisive term "Uncle Tom". His character today reads as one who is not intelligent, and someone who blindly follows his master and his religion. In my opinion, it was important to have him as the central hero of the story and important that he act as the "ideal slave" would act. One key point is the contrast between what happens to an "ideal" slave who does what the master tells him to do, and the "bad" slaves who run away. Unlike Eliza and George, Tom loses his wife and children when his master sells him.

Another important aspect of Tom is that he is always, by far, more moral than those that supposedly "own" him. Even the relatively benign Arthur Shelby allows his personal needs to not only sell Tom, but in doing so breaking his promise to free him, and beyond that, he fails to make a real effort to regain Tom, which he also promises to do. This contrast serves its purpose well. Tom is not dumb, and his faith is pure and true, unlike the faith of the slave-owners which they have had to twist to convince themselves that slavery is a moral good.

Tom's second master is Augustine St. Clare, who inherited a plantation in Louisiana, and though he feels slavery is a sin, it is a sin he is unable to abstain from. His cousin, Miss Ophelia St. Clare, is from New England and argues with him to try to get him to give up his slaves. His response is to have her try to raise and educate a wild young slave girl called Topsy. Though separated from his family, Tom is still able to correspond through an exchange of letters, which gives both himself and his loved ones hope of being reunited. Tom's obedience again earns his master's trust, good treatment, and promise of freedom, but a tragedy results in Tom being sold again.

Tom's third master is the infamous Simon Legree, a brutal master who trusts no slave, and who finds Tom too soft. At this point, Tom's separation from his family is complete, there is no communication at all. It is here where Tom refuses to do as his new master acts, and the reader learns that Tom has never really been a slave, that his actions have always been carried out because he believed they were the best course of action. He will not let Legree turn him into a Slave Driver, and he will readily sacrifice himself for others, as he has done throughout.

Though the slang can be difficult to navigate, and there are certainly other weaknesses as well, such as a wrap-up which is a bit too neat and some ideas on Liberia which demonstrate the racism which was even there in those that were against slavery, this is a book which every American ought to read and experience. When initially published, the book did well not only in the Northern part of the United States, but in Europe as well. Stowe makes use of the current events of the time in her narrative. For example, in one of the narrative comments, Stowe makes a comparison to a runaway slave and a Hungarian defying the law and making his way to America, which is a clear reference to the Hungarian, Louis Kossuth, fleeing Austria and the hero's welcome he received when he came to the United States.

The edition I am reviewing is the Penguin Classics which includes an introduction titled "The Art of Controversy" by Ann Douglas. It provides some good insight into Harriet Beecher Stowe's life and her writing of this novel, but I did think she somewhat oversimplified some of the historical context. Nevertheless, I would definitely highly recommend the novel.

My one-star rating applies only to the Penguin edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Penguin edition, edited by Ann Douglas, has a high rate of transcription error. So it is not suitable for serious study.

I listed a selection (over 100) of the transcription errors in the Penguin edition for a presentation at the 2007 American Literature Association conference. For example, the Penguin edition on page 619 (in the 4 copies that I've examined) has the following line:

"If the laws of New England were so arranged that a master could [it]now and then[/it] torture an apprentice to death, would it be received with equal composure?"

In the 1852 Jewett edition (the first printing in book form), the sentence included an additional clause:

"If the laws of New England were so arranged that a master could [it]now and then[/it] torture an apprentice to death, without a possibility of being brought to justice, would it be received with equal composure?"

This error--the omission of "without a possibility of being brought to justice"--diminishes a key theme in Stowe's work. I encourage scholars, teachers, and students to purchase Ammons's or Sklar's editions of UTC. Among editions that I've examined, those editions have more reliable texts. I have not examined the new Bedford edition (Railton) or the new Norton edition (Gates and Robbins).

If you choose to buy some other edition, perhaps your choice will encourage Penguin to publish a corrected edition. This edition was ranked 41,945 at Amazon when I wrote this review in July of 2007.

I wasn't ready to enjoy this novel and the first 60 pp reinforced this prejudice. The beginning is filled with Stowe's rendition of slave's speech--"ah's gwyne ter make corn pone fer Mas'r"--which most modern readers will find demeaning. Fortunately this tones down.

As a non-religious person I have a low tolerance for preachifyin, but it bothered me less as the novel progressed, as it became obvious that the most effective argument against slavery at the time was righteous Christianity. The issue was not the equality of the races, though Stowe does allow for that (not bad for 1850!), but that a Christian should not own humans, period. Whether the slaves were happy-go-lucky, sentimental, childlike, superstitious--all these supposed attributes of one race or another--all these were irrelevant to her.

Through the character of St Clare she argues that the greater sin of slave owners was their hypocrisy rather than the ownership per se. That owners might claim justification from some obscure passage in the Bible was an outrage. Better to simply admit that you hold slaves because you have the power to do so, and it makes your life easier. If you are to be wicked, admit it at least--don't hide behind some nonsensical religious rationalization. If the slave owners could be honest about their reasons, then there might be hope of winning the moral argument.

The characters are one-dimensional--pure good, pure evil, not much in between. Most are what we now see as stereotypes. They merely function as tools of the plot and the point. What I didn't expect was that the story itself would be as exciting as it was. It moves right along. This overcomes the preachiness and the simplicity of the characters, and is the reason so many read the book. Even for all its patronizin and preachifyin, it's a page-turner.

As others have noted it is amazing to see how "Uncle Tom", portrayed as noble and saintly, has become such a term of derision.

Finally, if you are going to read this, don't read the Introduction until after you've read the novel, as it gives away several plot points that you are better off encountering for yourself in the novel.

When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe he reportedly said, "This is the little woman who made the great war". The tremendous influence of this book on Anti-Slavery attitudes are considered to be a very real factor in leading to atmosphere which helped bring about the Civil War. This work is thus in terms of its 'real effect' in the 'real world ' far more important than 'Moby Dick' or " Leaves of Grass' or 'The Scarlet Letter ' or 'Walden', the greatest books of the American Renaissance.
The literary quality of the book is in no proportion to the Influence which it had.
I have found it an almost impossible read, in good part because of its language.

I knew nothing of Harriet Beecher Stowe's life or of the scandal that enveloped her family. the fact that she and they were famous and that this novel is based on true events adds great texture. The look at the times and the family dynamics were enough, however, to make me read to the end and want more.

A lotta back story. Actually the whole story is back story. Very interesting part of history that I know little about. I liked it, but after a while I got to wondering if it couldn't have started with the scandal and chugged its way forward, rather than stopping every other paragraph.

When I was in primary school, I read a biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and by the time I was in 6th grade, I had read Uncle Tom's Cabin. I was very moved by it and read it several times over the years.

I saw Harriet and Isabella in the bookstore and was intrigued by the premise: the relationship of two half-sisters, one a famed abolitionist-author, the other a suffragist. I read a few pages...and immediately became hooked.

O'Brien brings Harriet and Isabella vividly to life, allowing us to see both their charms and their warts via their relationships with each other and the other people in their lives. She also provides a fascinating picture of the Beecher family, as the story centers on the scandalous trial of Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet and Isabella's brother who also happened to be the most influential minister in the United States.

I was completely riveted by this novel, both because of my interest in the Beecher family story but also because each of these characters is drawn so fully. Even Henry's wife Eunice, an unsympathetic woman at best, has reasons for her bitterness, and O'Brien allows us to understand each and every member of the dramatis personae.

I can not recommend this book highly enough...but I will say I'm ordering O'Brien's book on Louisa May Alcott next!

At the heart of Patricia O'Brien's wonderful new book is the question of family loyalty--with whom do you side when a family member brings scandal or embarrassment to the family name? Do you choose family loyalty or the truth? And in whose eyes does the truth lie? Harriet Beecher Stowe chose to remain loyal to her preacher brother when he was caught in a sex scandal. Her sister Isabella chose truth. The result was family estrangement for many years. With keen insight and gifted prose, O'Brien shows us that family dynamics were no different in the 19th century than they are today. This is an excellent book club choice that will have people confessing family secrets to each other all night!

This book has it all: timeless themes of truth and loyalty... family psychodrama... guilty pleasures (gossip)... and a fascinating historical backdrop of one of the most important periods in American life. But what I loved most was how the passions and issues of the scandal O'Brien writes about resonate so well both backward and forward across time. She tells the story of Henry Ward Beecher's adultery trial in 1875. It feels completely modern to me. And at the same time, it strikes me as only a slight variant of moral dilemma Sophocles wrote about in "Antigone." Does family loyalty trump standards of public virtue? Or vice verse? But this is no philosphy tract: it's a gripping page turner of a novel. A terrific read. And all the more satisfying because the two women -- one a prominent suffragette, the other, author of the most influential anti-slavery book perhaps of all times -- were fascinating characters in their own right. They were also spokespersons for two huge social movements. All in all, this book is a smashing libretto for a real-life operatic drama.

Cliffnotes always help you get more out of the novel, but "krazy316," I can't believe you! How dare you abuse cliffnotes! The purpose of cliffnotes is to better understand what you have READ, not a cheap way to get out of reading good literature.
Anyway, cliffnotes is a great way to broaden your "knowledge" horizon. It explains who characters are, their relationships with one another, and the basic plot of each chapter. It's very helpful.

Even though long before I had a bachelor's degree, let alone did graduate work on Stowe, I was recognized as an authoritative writer on issues of African American politics and history, I used these Cliff notes when I studied Uncle Tom in graduate school.
Uncle Tom is designed to be read as the sentimental and womens novel of the mid-19th Century it is were meant to be read, to be read in a torrent, in as close to one sitting, to be read to produce the torrent of emotions that it is meant to unleash. A 46-year-old African American political with long experience in real danger in political struggle, I wept when Uncle Tom died in this book, even though I was reading it for graduate school.
Using the cliff notes for this book allows you to read this properly as Stowe meant it to be, as her contemporaries meant it to be read, but to keep up with the details of all the characters and plot devices that literally range all over the United States with implications and discussions going around the globe.

I would also urge you to consult Eric J. Sundquist's book New Essays on Uncle Tom's Cabin (The American Novel) and Jane Tompkin's Sensational Designs. You can find an easy way to get to them by cliquing the see my reviews link next to my name.

This book helped me pass my test with 100. I didn't even read the actual book "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The CliffsNotes version was enough. The book gives you character analyses and a background of the author in addition to a plot summary by chapter groups. I highly recommend this book if you don't want to read the actual novel.

I remember using Cliff Notes in my high-school days to avoid extensive reading and yet to pass the tests/write the papers. However, when it comes to this specific book, I highly recommend that you actually READ this book for the personal benefits you'll get, and use the Cliff Notes for summary and a guide only. Some of the most powerful aspects of this book cannot possibly be obtained through the Cliff Notes version alone. It will be found shocking to many African Americans (and educational for many Caucasians) to discover that Uncle Tom was the HERO of this classic novel, and not a "weakling" by any stretch of the imagination. "Uncle Tom", or its shorter form "Tom", has become a slanderous term within the African American community and implies a weak and Caucasian-controlled person, when in actuality Uncle Tom was a powerfully moral man who was willing to die for his convictions rather than succumb to the will of his worst oppressors. In fact, this book was credited by Abraham Lincoln himself as the catalyst that won his election on the abolition of slavery platform, and the resulting Civil War that followed. "Uncle Tom" became a negative slander one hundred years later only after Malcolm-X and the Black Muslims used it to slander Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who exemplified similar characteristics of strength and courage--from a similarly peaceful perspective--in his approach to the Civil Rights issue. As with the fictitious character Tom, Dr. King also died for his convictions without raising a hand against his oppressors. I highly recommend this book to people of all colors and races because of the lessons of self-sacrifice and courage it contains. Caucasian readers will hopefully learn of the pain and suffering of the slaves and gain a deeper compassion for its lingering legacy today. However, I especially recommend Uncle Tom's Cabin to African Americans, for contained in its pages are stories of love, compassion and courage--by both black & white--that will offset the painful legacy of that period caused by the suffering of so many. May the ignorance of the "Uncle Tom" slander be eradicated from their minds as they read of the courage of this fictitious character--who reminded others of Dr. King himself--and the other characters whose struggles and triumphs are contained in its pages also. I also recommend the books: No Apology Necessary, by Earl Carter, Let's Get to Know Each Other, by Tony Evans, and my own book, which is-- White Man in a Black Man's World (tm), by Richard Vermillion.

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I wasn't sure about reading this book and initially found it very difficult. After finishing the book I found it to be very moving, informative. It is amazing that this book was written so long ago and by a woman.

Most of the classics you read are long and boring and definitely not easy reading. Uncle Tom's Cabin is not one of those books! It is a book you can read before you go to sleep at night, without your brain hurting from trying to decipher what is going on (Wuthering Heights anyone?). Bottom line, I really enjoyed the book, and I know others will too.

Well I bought this book for a summer reading assignment and I have to say it isn't the most interesting book in fact I don't really like it at all. I know its a classic but seriously, read this only if you must. The only plus side is that this is the cheapest version of it haha.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, written by a woman who appalled slavery, has touched the hearts of many readers. Wanting to change and affect public opinion on the concept of slavery, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a novel, a dramatic, engaging narrative that claimed the heart, soul, and politics of many fellow Americans. It was propaganda and an attempt to make whites in the North and South see slaves as mortal human beings with Christian souls.
Uncle Tom's Cabin is the story of the slave Tom. Strong and loyal as he is, his "good" master, Mr. Shelby, sells Tom to Mr. Haley, a slave trader, to pay off a debt. Mr. St. Clare then purchases him as an act of gratitude for saving his daughter's life. After St. Clare's death, his wife goes against his wishes and sends him to a slave warehouse where he is bought by the "bullet headed" Mr. Simon Legree. Here, Tom endures brutal treatment at the hands of his master. By exposing the extreme cruelties of slavery, Stowe explores society's failures and asks, what is it to be a moral human being?"
The novel was revolutionary for its passionate indictment of slavery and its presentation of Tom, "a man of humanity." Labeled racist and condescending by some contemporary critics, Uncle Tom's Cabin still remains a shocking, controversial, and powerful piece of literature--exposing the attitudes of white nineteenth century society toward the institution of slavery, and documenting the tragic breakup of black Kentucky families.
I would definately recommend this novel to all well-informed readers looking for literature with much diction and imagery. It would also suit the needs of those looking for a great plot. However, I caution those sensitive to great detail of torture because this novel is very strong and graphic on the broad issue of slavery.

A central text in American Literature and History, January 7, 2005
Reviewer: Tony Thomas (North Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews
Uncle Tom is probably the most important single book written in the United States of America. No one is really familiar with American culture, literature, relgion, and history if she or he has not read Uncle Tom.

To understand this book, I would urge people to consult Eric J. Sundquist's book New Essays on Uncle Tom's Cabin (The American Novel) and Jane Tompkin's Sensational Designs. The 19th Century world and reader that Stowe aimed at read and understood things so differently, that you will miss much without knowing how to look at this book the way Stowe wrote to them and the way they read.

This book has a broad purpose: literary to decide what is wrong with the entire world and present an answer. If you follow the sweep of the book you will find Stowe takes on everything from whether the issues of the 1848 revolutions can be resolved on the side of Democracy, to the question of marital relations amogn the free and the white. The issue of slavery is not the book's only focus. It is, in fact, the solution.

Stowe's real thesis here is that American Chattel slavery is the number one evil in the world, that this evil corrupts every institution in society North and South and corrupts far beyond the borders of the United States, and that no compromise with it or avoidance of it is possible.

To Stowe, slavery is an abomination not just because of the cruelty, savagery, exploitation, and degradation involved, but above all, it is an abomination against God, the most unChrist-like behavior possible.

Thus the relgious solution she offers is to become more Christlike in your opposition to slavery and to finally undergrow the Christic experience of dying for your sins and being reborn in Jesus Christ. That's right, in Stowe's time evangelical Christianity, rather than being a fob for right-wing politics, was practiced by some of the militant and serious opponents of slavery.

Stowe creates figures that are Christlike who like Christ die rather than yield to sin and influence the others in their faith. The supreme figure is of course Uncle Tom. Uncle Tom, as a a pejorative, comes not from this novel, but from the Tom shows that blossomed in the late 19th century which were a presentation of a mock version of this story with racist minstrel like charicatures of the African American characters.

In this book, Uncle Tom is a physically majestic, heroic, dignified person, whose faith and dignity are never corrupted, whose death is shown as a parallel to that of Christ in the resurrection of the souls of all around him required to eliminate Slavery. If he is passive, never disobeys his masters, and seems to have not much of a material interest of his own in life, it is because to Stowe this a reflection of his Christic nature.

No doubt at best Stowe sees him as a "noble savage" at Best. There is no doubt if one reads this book and even more clearly STowe's Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin which provided documentation for this book's depiction of slavery, that it is clear that Stowe did not believe African Americans were equal to whites. Her then-current immigrationist views are expressed in the way the one intelligent independently acting Black couple presented here leave the US for Canada once they escape slavery.

Yet, this book accomplished the purpose it had. It galvanized millions of Americans and more millions around the world to dramatically oppose slavery. Uncle Tom was one of the first true international best sellers. In a smaller country, where literacy was lower, and when many people bought books through private libraries where families shared books and the book was often read to family gatherings rather than by one person, Uncle Tom sold two hundred thousand copies in its first year and sold a million copies between its publication and the civil war.

Stowe was honest in her afterward and in other writings to say that her description of slavery in Uncle Tom is much prettier and more nicer than slavery was. She believed an accurate depiction of slavery--Stowe had lived in Cincinatti on the board with slaving Kentucky and traveled through the South--would be so revolting that her target audience of Northern whites would not read this book.

Her book launched a torrent of responses from white southerners as could be expected. However, the popularity of her book encouraged white authors, but especially Black authors to write antislavery books that responded to Stowe. Some of the foundations of Black American literature by authors like Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Harriet Jacobs, and Martin Delany are essentially response to Uncle Tom.

Perhaps the most dramatic is Delany's Blake or the Huts of America whose character is a double to Uncle Tom. However, Delany's hero does not submit to being sold "down the river." He instead runs away and travels throughout the US following the same course as the travels in Uncle Tom showing how slave conditions are so much worse than Stowe showed. Finished with that business, Blake leaves the United States for Cuba where he becomes part of a group of Afro-Cubans unwilling to suffer like Christ and Uncle Tom. Like the current leaders of Cuba, they start to organize an international revolution of Slaves and the oppressed!

This is a compilation of three novels written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. These books are together considered by the editor to be her most important works, so they are grouped together in this volume. While Uncle Tom's Cabin is probably the most influential novel in American history, I doubt many readers have ever heard of The Minister's Wooing or Oldtown Folks. The rating then can't involve just Uncle Tom's Cabin, but must discuss all three books.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, as noted above, is the most influential novel in American history. There's a famous anecdote, repeated in slightly different forms in different places, that President Lincoln, upon being introduced to her, referred to her as "the little lady who started the big war" or something to that affect. Uncle Tom's Cabin opened the world of slavery (in a somewhat homogenized form) to Northern readers who objected to slavery but were convinced it wasn't their problem. The book itself is rather sly: it puts a very good man who's a slave in a series of situations, and it's not until the last portion of the book that his slavery becomes intolerable. The trick is that within the world of "acceptable" slavery, the situation is intolerable, with families being split and various other calamities. The result is to make the reader oppose slavery, even in situations when the master of the slaves were good-natured, compassionate people.

The Minister's Wooing is a different sort of story. It's set sometime just after the American Revolution in New England, and the main characters are a woman of middle years and her teenaged daughter, who have a boarder, the Minister of the title. The mother sets her heart on getting the Minister to marry her daughter, and off we go for a 300 page romance novel. The romantic aspect of the novel is very very tame by our modern standards, but the worst part of the book is the treacly religious fervor that pervades every page of the book. I think most modern fundamentalists would think it overdone. One odd circumstance is the appearance of Aaron Burr (prior to his shooting Alexander Hamilton) as a secondary character in the book: the author doesn't approve of Mr. Burr.

Oldtown Folks is set similarly to The Minister's Wooing, in New England at about the turn of the 18th Century. The book is told in the first person, with the narrator being the son of a widow. They befriend a pair of orphans from a neighboring village, and the bulk of the book surrounds one of the orphans, a young girl named Tina who bewitches everyone who knows her with her bright personality and wonderful demeanor. Some of the characters in this novel are especially well-drawn: one old woman is so hateful that you just despise her, more than the characters in the book do. The problem, again, is that the book just goes on and on, for almost 600 pages, and it takes forever to run to its conclusion.

All three novels deal with the inequities of society in the period in which they are set, and all three have the aforementioned religious overtones that are completely overdone by modern standards. If you can overcome the latter, the former are interesting, but I can't recommend either The Minister's Wooing or Oldtown Folks. Uncle Tom's Cabin is of course required reading for anyone interested in American history, and frankly is the best book of the three anyway.

When I hear the word `biography', the first thing I think is another boring book of facts. But Jean Fritz keeps her reader's interested, talking in a conversational tone, while weaving the tale of Harriet Beecher Stowe's life during the Civil War. You watch the influential writer and her family grow - facing much hardship and happiness. I would give this book five stars. Anyone who is interested in life during the civil war - well, Harriet's life at least, should definitely read this book. I would recommend it to kids 10-15.

Jean Fritz does a wonderful job with this short biography for young adults. It's easy to read and gives lots of information on Harriet's life without boring you or causing your brain to feel overstuffed. There are pictures as well. I recommend this book for everyone, and it was a big help in my research.

This book was recomended to my by one of my study books after I finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. This book gives you insightful information about Harriet and her family, but does not make it dull. It is not to long of a book perfect for those readers who don't want to waste time on extra information. This book made me want to study further on about Harriet Beecher Stowe and learn more about her. I highly recomend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about someone and their part of making history.

A compelling and highly readable indictment of slavery in America, "Dred" takes risks that "Uncle Tom's Cabin" did not. The ending of "Dred" is powerful and strong, unlike that of "Uncle Tom", which seemed to advocate ultimately that the slaves should be freed and encourged to return to Africa. Harriet Beecher Stowe is just as sharp in her criticism of the North and she is to the South. She is quick to condemn the passive profiteers of slavery as she is the slaveholder himself. I throughly enjoyed this book. I will read it a secod time.

While Uncle Tom's Cabin will likely remain Harriet Beecher Stowe's best known work, her 1856 novel Dred should not be overlooked. If you like this time period, you should like Dred. Stowe avoids the heavy-handed authorial commentary that characterizes Uncle Tom's Cabin; in other words, she lets the events of the story speak for themselves. The story is slow-burning plantation drama--again, if you're a fan of 19th century literature, you'll love Dred. Dred compares favorably to Moby-Dick, as both novels turn on gradual plots where the reader's bond to the characters becomes crucial. Because the plot takes awhile to develop, the true reward of the novel comes from watching the characters grow and evolve.

This edition features an introduction and notes by Robert Levine, which do a great job of placing Stowe's work in a historical context. Dred should appeal to students of 19th century literature, and anyone else with an interest in slavery and abolition.

This is a touching story of a boy whose mother abuses him during World War II. William is sent to live with a man named Tom, who lives in the country. As William slowely settles in he and Tom become the best of friends. Then one day he is sent back to his mother, who beats him and locks him in the cellar. Uncle Tom follows William and finds him and gets him to a hospital. They then get to live together. This is an exccelent book. I would reccomend it to EVERYONE!!!

_Goodbye to Uncle Tom_ is a nonfiction look at how American views of black people and slavery were shaped by _Uncle Tom's Cabin_---both the book itself, and the endless, increasingly low-rent plays derived from it. At one time "Tom-shows" were a large subset of the theater industry, since even the most pious folk could find very little to object to in going to one. They were a national institution until after World War One, and were only finally killed off by movies.

It's an interesting look at a little-known part of US social history, and I wish it were being re-printed.