About this item
"The most powerful and enduring work of art ever written about American slavery." -Alfred Kazin When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1862, he greeted her as "the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war." He was exaggerating only slightly. First published in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin sold more than 300,000 copies in its first year and brought home the evils of slavery more dramatically than any abolitionist tract possibly could. With its boldly drawn characters, violent reversals of fortune, and unabashed sentimentality, Stowe's work remains one of the great polemical novels of American literature, a book with the emotional impact of a round of cannon fire. For almost thirty years, The Library of America has presented America's best and most significant writing in acclaimed hardcover editions.
About the Author
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (/sto?/; June 14, 1811 - July 1, 1896) was an American abolitionist and author. She came from a famous religious family and is best known for her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) . It depicts the harsh life for African Americans under slavery. It reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and Great Britain. It energized anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. She wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential for both her writings and her public stands on social issues of the day.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Gurney & Sons (Bowdoin College Museum of Art) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
