About this item
A fascinating look at the cultural roots political impact and enduring legacy of Harriet Beecher Stowes revolutionary bestsellerUncle Toms Cabin is likely the most influential novel ever written by an American In a fitting tribute to the two hundredth anniversary of Harriet Beecher Stowes birth Bancroft Prize-winning historian David S Reynolds reveals her books impact not only on the abolitionist movement and the American Civil War but also on worldwide events including the end of serfdom in Russia down to its influence in the twentieth century He explores how both Stowes background as the daughter in a famously intellectual family of preachers and her religious visions were fundamental to the novel And he demonstrates why the book was beloved by millionsxand won over even some southernersxwhile fueling lasting conflicts over the meaning of America Although vilified over the years as often as praised it has remained a cultural landmark proliferating in the form of plays songs films and merchandisexa rich legacy that has both fed and contested American racial stereotypes black-and-white illustrations.
About the Author
David S. Reynolds, a Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, is the author or editor of 15 books, including "Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America," "Walt Whitman's America," "John Brown, Abolitionist," "Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson," "George Lippard," "Faith in Fiction," and "Beneath the American Renaissance." He is the winner of the Bancroft Prize, the Christian Gauss Award, the Ambassador Book Award, the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award, and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has been interviewed on shows including NPR's "Fresh Air," "Weekend Edition," and "The Diane Rehm Show," ABC's "The John Batchelor Show," and C-SPAN's "After Words," Brian Lamb's "Book Notes," and "Book TV." He is a regular contributor to "The New York Times Book Review" and is included in "Who's Who in America." David Reynolds was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He received the B.A. magna cum laude from Amherst College and the Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught American literature and American Studies at Northwestern University, Barnard College, New York University, Rutgers University, Baruch College, the Sorbonne-Paris III, and, since 2006, at the CUNY Graduate Center. His wife, Suzanne Nalbantian, is a professor of comparative literature and is the author or editor of six books, including "Memory in Literature: From Rousseau to Neuroscience" and "The Memory Process: Neuroscientific and Humanistic Perspectives."
