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    Uncle Tom's Cabin
    Uncle Tom's Cabin
    Uncle Tom's Cabin
    Audiobook20 hours

    Uncle Tom's Cabin

    Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe

    Narrated by Richard Allen

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    About this audiobook

    Uncle Tom's Cabin opens with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby facing the loss of his farm because of debts. Even though he and his wife, Emily Shelby, believe that they have a benevolent relationship with their slaves, Shelby decides to raise the needed funds by selling two of them-Uncle Tom, a middle-aged man with a wife and children, and Harry, the son of Emily Shelby's maid Eliza-to a slave trader. Emily Shelby hates the idea of doing this because she had promised her maid that her child would never be sold; Emily's son, George Shelby, hates to see Tom go because he sees the old man as his friend and mentor.

    When Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in 1852, it became an international blockbuster, selling more than 300,000 copies in the United States alone in its first year. Progressive for her time, Harriet Beecher Stowe was one of the earliest writers to offer a shockingly realistic depiction of slavery. Her stirring indictment and portrait of human dignity in the most inhumane circumstances enlightened hundreds of thousands of people by revealing the human costs of slavery, which had until then been cloaked and justified by the racist misperceptions of the time.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 15, 2008
    ISBN9781400180394
    Author

    Harriet Beecher Stowe

    Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896) was an American abolitionist and author of more than 20 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) was a realistic account of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom.

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    Reviews for Uncle Tom's Cabin

    4/5

    96 ratings73 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Classic abolitionist melodrama - I think the last time I read it was after seeing a very funny take off by the San Francisco Mime Company called "I Ain't Yo Uncle". A product of its time, but probably worth a read from the perspective of literary (and U.S.) history.
    • 4/5
      I loved this! Beautiful and heartbreaking though some of my emotional bonds were stronger with side characters. It's fascinating to see how our perspectives of Uncle Tom have evolved throughout history.
    • 4/5
      I was pleasantly surprised to find this book not only readable, but actually captivating. Even people in my book club who aren't history geeks described this as a compelling read. That's saying a lot for book that's more than 150 years old. I now understand better why Stowe's novel ended up being so pivotal in the years leading up to the American Civil War.
    • 4/5
      "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852) was the best-selling novel of the 19th century, and of such importance that Abraham Lincoln reportedly said "So this is the little lady who made this big war" upon meeting Stowe.I think it's unfairly criticized in the 20th century and today for (1) being overly sentimental and dramatic, and (2) for its characters who created or amplified racial stereotypes. As James Baldwin put it in "Everybody's Protest Novel", "Uncle Tom's Cabin is a very bad novel, having, in its self-righteous, virtuous sentimentality, much in common with Little Women". I can't disagree more. The book is powerful and exposes the extreme cruelty of slavery. I can't understand why critics feel a need to cast it aside in favor of "Huckleberry Finn" as if one needed to decide "either/or" which was superior. The Norton Critial Edition is well worth it for its ocassional illustrations, articles putting the work in historical context, and for the reviews. Some of this extra material will resonate (for me, George M. Frederickson's, "Uncle Tom and the Anglo-Saxons: Romantic Racialism in the North"), and some of it will not, but most of it will stir a discussion and make you think.Quotes:On beauty in old age:"Her hair, partially silvered by age, was parted smoothly back from a high placid forehead, on which time had written no inscription, except peace on earth, good will to men, and beneath shone a large pair of clear, honest, loving brown eyes; you only needed to look straight into them, to feel that you saw to the bottom of a heart as good and true as ever throbbed in woman's bosom. So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why don't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women?"On God:"Is there a God to trust in?" said George, in such a tone of bitter despair as arrested the old gentleman's words. "O, I've seen things all my life that made me feel that there can't be a God. You Christians don't know how these look to us. There's a God for you, but is there any for us?"On immortality:"O with what freshness, what solemnity and beauty, is each new day born; as if to say to insensate man, "Behold! thou hast one more chance! Strive for immortal glory!"On racism:"If we emancipate, are you willing to educate? ...We are the more obvious oppressors of the negro; but the unchristian prejudice of the north is an oppressor almost equally severe."On religion, powerful words:"Religion! Is what you hear at church religion? Is that which can bend and turn, and descend and ascend, to fit every crooked phase of selfish, worldly society, religion? Is that religion which is less scrupulous, less generous, less just, less considerate for man, than even my own ungodly, worldly, blinded nature? No! When I look for a religion, I must look for something above me, and not something beneath."
    • 5/5
      This book is very moving. I almost cried at parts. I really enjoyed it.
    • 5/5
      I have to admit that I only just read it for the first time. All I can say is that this book is amazing -- and that Harriet Beecher Stowe must have been a genius because of the way she manipulated the story to "preach" for her without preaching.
    • 4/5
      This is a powerful story of the ills of slavery. The characters come alive and make you feel like you are a part of the story. I really enjoyed the strong females in the book and the portrayal of slavery and its effects on families and individuals. I found this book to be a compelling story and hard to put down. I highly recommend it.
    • 5/5
      Whatever your race, gender, nationality is, just read it. What more can I say?
    • 4/5
      Within a few pages I quickly understood why they aren't teaching this one in schools anymore. It's not nearly so bad as adaptations would have you believe, but yeah, it's bad. The author's heart was clearly in the right place, but several times she assigns blanket characteristics to an entire race. It's a fascinating historical artifact, but far from politically correct by today's standards. What's most engaging about reading it now is its perfect capturing of the voice of its times. It's difficult to fathom a world where slavery is the number one pressing political issue, but here it is in all its grimness. This is no great work of literature - the author's insertions, the staggering pacing, and the giant Christianity club can be wearing - but every bit worth a read for a chilling visit to a not-distant-enough past.
    • 3/5
      interesting and eye opening account on slavery. but the fact that constantly new people were brought into the story confused me. i started to loose track of characters. and not so much was actually taking place in the " cabin". for sure a classic considering when it was written.
    • 5/5
      Excellent book from which to learn about slavery and the times.
    • 3/5
      Well, I'm pleased to say that I finally finished Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. I have always wanted to read this book given its status as an American classic, and that the author was considered to be the first 'serious' female American author. The novel was published in 1852 and addresses the issue of slavery in such a confronting and raw way that it would have been very difficult to ignore in its time. I must admit that I struggled to get through this one, as the dialogue of the characters is extremely authentic to the times and therefore difficult to follow. The subject matter is also quite heavy and religion is mentioned on almost every page. All in all, I can now see why this book is called a 'classic' and I'm really glad I persisted and finished it.Would I recommend it? That's difficult to say... if you like to challenge yourself every now and again by reading a classic (like I do) then sure, this is worth it.
    • 4/5
      I hear references to Uncle Tom's Cabin all the time but had never read it before now. It took me over a month to read but it was worth it.The story follows Tom, a slave in Kentucky who is sold after his kind masters hit some hard times and have to settle a debt. He has the opportunity to run away with 2 other slaves, but opts to be sold because it is the will of his master and Tom's mission in life is to do as his master asks. As he is preparing to leave his family and his cabin his wife cooks his favorite breakfast one last time. That entire scene left me crying my eyes out.I think this is where the phrase, "sold up the river," comes from because he is sold and moves up the river. Good or bad, his story continues from there.It made me consider what it was truly like to live in the south in the 1850s, when her story was written. In fact, the funnest part of reading it for me (if reading about slavery can be considered fun) was knowing that it was written before the Civil War. I learned that some say this book, which was actually not a book but a serial installment released in a magazine of the time, was like a rattling saber, "starting" the Civil War! Abraham Lincoln met her and said, "So this is the little lady who made this big war"!!! Can you imagine?!The end of the book gets a little too religious for my taste, but I am able to forgive it considering the time period it was written in.Harriet Beecher Stowe did a brilliant job exploring every persons' aspect of slavery through her tale, which is partially based on true stories.
    • 3/5
      Many portions of this book are difficult to get through, you have to sound out the accented phonic spellings and I found it more distracting then illustrative. If you enjoyed Huckleberry Finn, and the language there didn't bother you, then it won't here either. Both books bothered me on that front.
    • 5/5
      I never knew that it was such a page turner! About halfway through the pace picked up so that I was avidly reading whenever I had a chance to see if George and Eliza would shake off their trackers, Uncle Tom would make it back to his family, what it would take to make Topsy reform and much more. How about that crazy Cassy, hmm? And poor Emmaline ... would someone save her before Simon Legree got his filthy hands on her? Wow!I never knew that Uncle Tom actually was a Christ-figure, a living saint. No wonder he is misunderstood by so many. They are not getting the whole picture.I never knew that so many sorts of people were represented throughout the book. The language can be rather stilted due to the style of the times but Stowe did a good job showing many different attitudes toward slavery and how people excused themselves under the flimsiest of excuses. One expects the broadly painted very good and very evil owners but not the more shaded in-between characters.It was fascinating toward the end of the book to see where many of the slaves wound up. One could discern what Stowe's ideas of a solution for the slavery problem were and, indeed, it was even more interesting to read her afterward where she discusses it specifically.I thought that Stowe included herself in the book as the maiden aunt from New England who thought she understood the problem until she came up against Topsy who demanded that she put her whole heart and soul into realizing that the slaves were real people. My daughter saw her as Mrs. Shelby, the kindly wife of Uncle Tom's original owner, who as soon as she got a chance absolutely did the right thing.
    • 5/5
      “The way of the wicked is as darkness; he knoweth not at what he stumbleth.”Written in 1852, this book continues today as a classic novel about slavery, racism, hope and the Christian faith. It was written to educate as well as to remind future generations. It was a best-seller, selling 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week; 300,000 in the first year. It also sold then, and still sells today, in the international market. It has been on banned book lists since its publication. Today, many school districts and/or states ban it due to language, racism, and/or Christianity.Mrs. Stowe was from the Northeast United States. The United States Congress passed the Compromise of 1850. It was intended to address the concerns of slave holding and free states, yet it helped galvanize the abolition movement. Mrs. Stowe formed her stance on slavery because of this law. Among the provisions of the Compromise of 1850 were the end of the slave trade, but not slavery, and the creation of a stricter Fugitive Slave Law. Helping runaways had been illegal since 1793, but the 1850 law required that everyone help catch fugitives. This law erased any protection that a fugitive had had. Anyone on the street could be picked up and accused of being a fugitive from slavery. Thus free Blacks were often picked up and sent into slavery.She was angry, believing her country was now requiring her to comply with a system that she believed was unjust and immoral. While she and her husband, Calvin Stowe, were living in Maine, she disobeyed the law by hiding runaways. Mrs. Stowe lived in Connecticut, Ohio, and Maine, yet she knew slavery through several avenues. While in Ohio, she and her husband were a part of the Underground Railroad. Her brother met a plantation owner who was cruel and evil as the book’s Simon Legree. She traveled to Kentucky where she visited plantations with slaves. She felt the message of slavery needed to be espoused clearly and loudly. She shared her frustrations and feelings of powerlessness with her family. It was then that her sister-in-law suggested she do more: “…if I could use a pen as you can, Hatty, I would write something that would make this whole nation feel what an accursed thing slavery is.” This letter touched Mrs. Stowe to the heart. She was determined to write “if [she] lived.”The story follows two lines. One is Tom who chooses to stay with his family rather than run away once he finds that he is to be sold to pay debts of the plantation owner. He hoped that his family would be able to stay together if he did not run. The second is Eliza who finds that her young son, Harry, is also to be sold for these debts. Eliza chooses to run away with Harry.We follow Eliza and Harry as they wind their way on escape routes, running just ahead of slave hunters, being protected by Quakers missionaries along the way to arrive safely in Canada. We also follow Tom from plantation owners who treat their slaves gently and kindly to being sold to a harsh slave trader who then sells Tom to other plantation owners. The final one is the cruel and violent Simon Legree.Slavery and the slave trade separated families, husbands from wives, mothers from children. Punishments, fierce and gruesome, showed that slaves were treated as less than human. Freedom came for some; others received promises of freedom, but when the master died suddenly or he racked up a lot of debt, those slaves were sold “down the river.”There are moments in the story filled with hope and love, people desiring to help others. There are times filled with cruelty and fear, people filled with hatred. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is fiction yet is based on a conglomerate portrait of slaves, owners, families, and abolitionists. It has the genuine mixture of story/subject, characters, settings, and emotions to make it a classic and a bestseller. It is an excellent story, although so hard and harsh at times, yet carried along with hope and love.AuthorHarriet Beecher was born June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, CT to the Rev. Lyman Beecher (1775-1863) and Roxanna Foote Beecher (1775- 1816); the sixth of 11 children. The Beechers expected their children to make a difference in the world, and they truly did: All seven sons became ministers (the most effective way to influence society in that period) Oldest daughter, Catharine pioneered education for women Youngest daughter, Isabella was a founder of the National Women’s Suffrage Association Harriet believed her purpose in life was to write. Her most famous work exposed the truth about the greatest social injustice of her day – human slaveryStowe began her formal education at Sarah Pierce’s academy, one of the earliest to encourage girls to study academic subjects and not simply ornamental arts. In 1824, she became a student and then a teacher at Hartford Female Seminary, which was founded by her sister Catharine.In 1851, The National Era’s publisher contracted with Stowe for a story that would “paint a word picture of slavery” and that would run in installments. Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Life Among the Lowly turned out to be more than 40 installments before it was published into a book.In all, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s writing career spanned 51 years, during which time she published 30 books and countless short stories, poems, articles, and hymns.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This has been a book I have wanted to read for years and years. I finally decided it would fit into my library of Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson and Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon, two excellent non-fiction books.This book is 496 pages. I joined in Sue Jackson’s “Big Book Summer Challenge” @ Book By Book (as this book was over the 400 page minimum).
    • 5/5
      Whatever your feelings about the characterizations in this book are, it is a true classic of literature. As a woman, Stowe had to please both herself and the male-dominated world she was writing for (both abolitionist and non-abolistionist), and she did so beautifully. Along with Gone With the Wind, the most important literary work of fiction concerning slavery. Pioignant in it's humany and rich in laguage, this is one of my favorite books. I can't believe I waited until I was in my 40s to read it, but I've read it twice now.
    • 5/5
      I read this in 8th grade and was duly taken by it. If I was not an abolitionist before I read it I certainly was one after I finished it.
    • 5/5
      Hauntlngly beautiful.I avoided reading this book for many years because I was afraid it would be too painful. Now that I have read it though, I regret that I waited so long.Uncle Tom's Cabin follows the story of Tom, a slave who has lived most of his life on a plantation with a kind master. He is much loved by the other slaves who call him "Uncle Tom". As the story begins we find that Tom his being sold so his master can cover some debts. Many other deeply rich characters are woven into the narrative, but the main character throughout is Tom.This book is known, rightly, for it's anti-slavery message, but it is much more than that. It is a story about the strength of the human spirit to survive the unthinkable and it's a story about faith in Christ. I am a Christian, and still I am in awe that the slaves could find and hold onto faith while living in slavery. Because of my own life experiences, I felt I could relate much better to Cassie (a female slave introduced late in the book, who is understandably angry and hardened by life.) Tom's faith and testimony moved me. Once in a while you find a book that leaves you a different person, a better person for having read it . . . Uncle Tom's Cabin did that for me.
    • 5/5
      This is an amazing novel which is deservedly an all time classic. It is at various times, and sometimes at the same time, moving, horrific, grippingly exciting and comically funny. Like many 19th century novels, it has what to many modern readers seems to be excessive sentimentality, though in this context, it doesn’t seem excessive to me. The narrative also places a reliance on the role of religious faith and Christian virtue in overcoming adversity that may strike many readers especially in Western Europe as rather dated, though I find it very moving in this context of resisting oppression and injustice especially as articulated by the title character. From the historical point of view, there are a number of significant learning points. The life of a slave depended solely on the arbitrariness of having either a kind or a cruel master; the life of a slave belonging to a kind master may appear superficially quite reasonable but if that master dies or goes into debt, the slave can be sold off to a very different kind of master. Some “superior” slaves who acted as foremen on behalf of their master could be as cruel to other slaves as the masters themselves. Finally, and perhaps, most revealingly, is that both kind and cruel masters see their slaves as animals rather than humans, the kind master indulging them as many people do their pet dogs or cats, the cruel master doing worse, but neither of them understanding that the black man or woman could feel love for their family as much as the white man and fight to prevent their being sold off separately. This e-book edition contains a postscript by the author describing the sources for her narrative incidents. A profoundly moving and human book that should be read by everyone whatever their race or nationality.
    • 2/5
      The books message is great. The bravery in addressing the subject deserves our praise, but the quality of writing is atrocious. Although one of the best selling books ever, there are good reasons it never gets on anyone's "best" lists. Although you might care about poor Tom by the end you'll sure be glad it's over.

      Chapeter 18 starts out "Our friend Tom, in his own simple musings." Change Tom to Harriet and it's a done deal.
    • 5/5
      Honestly, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book. It was one of those classics that I felt I Should read at some point, so I finally picked it up. What I found was one of the most touching surprises I've found to argue against my expectations. This book explores the lives of various characters, white and black, free and enslaved, northern and southern. While it's obvious, particularly at the end, that the author Stowe has an agenda, the book reads as a masterpiece of fiction. It does not use heavy rhetoric to drive your opinion, but incorporates character, story, and religion to make you consider the circumstances and drive you toward your own opinions. Having read many other works that deal with slavery and race relations, I wasn't expecting this book to touch me quite like it did, but because the author lets the characters and story flow in a natural rhythm, and because she moves between them to naturally create suspense, a reader can't help but remain entranced in this book. It moves quickly, and though the length may look daunting, it flies by. I'd say that for a complete understanding of American history--or, as complete as could be possible, at least--this is the first novel I've read which would be absolutely required reading. It is a beautiful novel, complete, and Stowe never puts her agenda above the story she's following. I would argue that this might well be the most lasting work of American Literature written, and that this might be the quientessential American novel even beyond Huck Fin. For anyone, I'd strongly recommend this book. It may take some time to pick it up since it is long, but you won't be tempted to leave it aside once you do.
    • 3/5
      Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly by Harriet Beecher Stowe is the book that started the American Civil War, according to Abraham Lincoln who was only being partially facetious when he first made that comment to the author. Starting a war was not Ms. Stowe's goal when she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, but ending slavery in America certainly was. Telling a story, creating a work of art, while important, played a secondary role in her ambitions. The story serves an express purpose, exposing the horrors of slavery in order to bring about its end. So, 150 years after it's initial publication, what does Uncle Tom's Cabin have to offer a 21st century reader?As a historical document, Uncle Tom's Cabin, it must be acknowledge, carries a lot of weight. It was after all, the best selling novel of the 19th century, the second best selling book in the world, second only to the bible. Written as an angry response to the passage of the fugitive slave law, it certainly tapped into the cultural zeitgeist of it's day. Stowe's novel and the wide ranging dramatizations it inspired, some of which were staged before the novel serialization was finished, have entered into the American collective consciousness. (Even Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim referenced the novel; his song "Not Getting Married" includes the line "like Eliza on the ice.") The characters Uncle Tom, Topsy, Eliza, Simon Legree, Little Eva have all taken on a life of their own, often unfortunately so. Stowe's depiction of slavery, while far from comprehensive and probably far from accurate, opened the eyes of contemporary readers, and can still at least raise a few eyebrows today. People tend to forget how horrible things were with the passage of time which makes books like Uncle Tom's Cabin useful reading. But, in the end, is it a good read? The story begins with high melodrama that does not let up until the very end. In the opening chapters, Uncle Tom, though devoted to his master, Mr Shelby, and his master's family, is sold along with young Harry, Eliza's son. Eliza has already lost her husband to a plantation owner who refuses to let her see him, so she takes her young son and runs away before he can be sold soth. Eliza carries her son across a the broken ice that floats down the Ohio River in order to be free. Uncle Tom is sent to the slave markets in New Orleans on a river boat. While on-board he rescues a young girl, Eva, who insists that her father, Mr. St. Clare, buy him so she can have his company. On the St. Clare plantation Uncle Tom and Little Eva win the hearts of just about everyone but Mrs. St. Clare who sells Tom instead of granting him freedom after the deaths of both Eva and her father. Tom then ends up in the hands of Simon Legree who runs a plantation straight out of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Tom's wife, Aunt Cloe, meanwhile, works and saves her money so she can buy Tom's freedom. In the end, Mr. Shelby, Jr. goes to Legree's plantation to buy Tom back only to find he is dying from the severe beating Legree has given him. Back in Canada Eliza, George and their children decide to emigrate to Liberia to start a new life and to bring Christianity to Africa.You can see why so many modern reader's have problems with the novel. It's not that the black characters are realized as less than fully human, it's that they are realized as children. Tom and Little Eva are equals, both portrayed as children in a sentimental Victorian melodrama. Both are devoted to each other and to Christianity as only little childre can be. Both believe that God will save them and that everyone should turn to God and all their problems will be solved. The message of the novel is not just that slavery is wrong, but that turning away from God is wrong. We must end slavery as a means of returning to the path of righteousness that God has set out for us to follow. This path, leads the black characters back to Africa, not as a return to the lives their ancestors left, but as missionaries spreading Christianity. Why should they have to go back in the first place? Don't they have as much right to be in America as anyone? Stowe was against slavery, but she is not really arguing for racial equality.The major problem a modern reader will have with Uncle Tom's Cabin may not be the book's racism, arguing that the 19th century American novel is racist seems moot to me anyway, but that the book is very preachy. Much of the dialogue serves to provide a platform to advance the case against slavery rather than to develop the plot or the characters. Whether two characters are sitting in a parlor or facing each other over the point of a gun, the speeches against slavery continue. Many of them are very good. Case in point, George's reply to the bounty hunters who have cornered his family on a hillside in Ohio:"I know very well that you've got the law on your side, and the power," said George, bitterly, "You mean to take my wife to sell in New Orleans, and put my boy like a calf in a trader's pen, and send Jim's only mother to the brute that whipped and abused her before, because he couldn't abuse her son. You want to send Jim and me back to be whipped and tortured, and ground down under the heels of them that you call masters; and your laws will bear you out on it,---more shame for you and them! But you haven't got us. We don't own your laws; we don't own your country; we stand here as free, under God's sky, as you are; and, by the great God that made us, we'll fight for our liberty till we die."George stood out in fair sight, on the top of the rock, as he made his declaration of independence; the glow of dawn gave as flush to his swarthy cheek, and bitter indignation and despair gave fire to his dark eye; and, as if appealing from man to the justice of God, he raised his hand to heaven as he spoke.If this works for you as a reader, you'll find much to enjoy in Uncle Tom's Cabin. I found it to be tough going for much of the novel. Towards the end of the book, once Tom arrives at Simon Legree's plantation, I found the speeches became less frequent and the narrative pace picked up quite a bit. The book almost became hard to put down for the last 200 pages. In the end, while interesting and important as a historical document, Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly, by Harriet Beecher Stowe has little to offer the modern reader. I'm giving the book three out of five stars.
    • 5/5
      This is a GREAT Book. It has humor, heartache, triumph, inspiration and reflection. Don't run away from this book because of the controversy of slavery.Give it a chance, you will not regret it.
    • 1/5
      Absolute trite garbage. One of the worst reading experiences I have experienced. This is religious sentimentality in its worst basest most soap-opera form. Pompous and self-aggrandizing. I would NOT recommend it to anyone unless you have to read it for your studies as a mandatory text.
    • 5/5
      When I read this, I was unprepared for it. I didn't realize how gripping the story would be, and how I would come to care for all the characters (well, the ones you are SUPPOSED to care about). I can see how this book could have started a war. Years ago, this book was required reading in high school. It really should be again. Recently, Michael Medved wrote an article about how slavery wasn't really so bad. Obviously he is clueless when it comes to American history.
    • 4/5
      I knew a few things about Uncle Tom's Cabin before cracking open the book. From The King and I I knew some characters and scenes like Eliza escaping over the ice floe. I knew that upon meeting author Harriet Beecher Stowe, President Lincoln said she was the "little woman who made this great war"--the American Civil War. And I thought I knew that Stowe had never visited the South. That last turned out to be wrong. According to the introduction, she had once visited slave-holding Kentucky, which is where she initially sets the book. Of course, her limited contact with slavery doesn't mean she didn't know what she was writing about. As the introduction and her note after the novel relates, as part of an abolitionist family, she had known and interviewed ex-slaves and read various first-hand slave narratives, including that of Frederick Douglas. I feared what I'd read would be a minstrel show knowing the reputation of "Uncle Tom," and I'd heard it had a reputation as overly sentimental and anti-slavery propaganda. Given all that I found the book a surprisingly good read. Sure, it's an old fashioned book. Published in 1852, like many Victorian authors I've read such as Dickens, Alcott and Gaskell, it can strike a reader as sentimental and steeped in religiosity. Were it published today it would be considered "Christian Fiction." Stowe hits very hard on Christian themes and how slavery makes living a Christian life difficult for slave and slaveholder alike. Sometimes it can get unbearably preachy--I found the character of "Little Eva" particularly hard to take seriously. There is also some racial stereotyping, but according to the introduction Stowe was progressive for the period and her purpose was to show the "full humanity" of blacks, and she constantly pressed the reader to put themselves in the shoes of slaves and insisted they felt everything any reader would feel upon being separated from family and home, or used unfairly and cruelly. And Uncle Tom is no Uncle Tom. He does refuse to run away, because he fears it would result in all the slaves in the estate being sold, and he is honest and conscientious in his dealings with his masters--but he's not a sycophant, and openly disobeys orders that would make him act against his conscience. And there are other characters--such as George Harris--willing to defend the liberty of himself and his escaping family by any means necessary--including at gunpoint.At the same time, Stowe doesn't demonize slaveholders, and Stowe paints a deft portrait of their rationalizations--one could imagine that what came out of her characters' mouths is what Stowe herself must have heard from those sympathetic to slavery. There are scenes among the St Clare family particularly that provided very sharp social commentary--even satire--as Marie St Clare complains of the selfishness of her slaves or Augustine St Clare points out to Miss Ophelia, his abolitionist Northern cousin, her racism and hypocrisy.I've read modern depictions of slavery by authors such as Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler, but Uncle Tom's Cabin reminds me most of a 19th century slave narrative by Harriet Jacobs I read for college. Both books emphasize the moral dimension of slavery--not simply how slavery is cruel or wrong, but how being owned by others means a slave is denied moral agency. And reading Uncle Tom's Cabin I can imagine why this was moral dynamite laid at the very foundations of slavery that would help lead to it being exploded little more than a decade after it was published. This is undeniably one of the most important books ever published in terms of its historical effects and on that basis alone, despite its flaws, deserves to be more widely read today.
    • 4/5
      This is a great book for anyone who is inerested in the pre Civil War era and all the issues that accompany slavery. Published in 1852 and written by a woman who lived in a nothern state bordering the south, Harriet Beecher Stowe delivers a powerful story of life in a time of extreme contention. The harshness of cruel masters is depicted as well as the more compassionate individuals that treated their slaves as members of the family. The courage of the characters that decide to risk it all and plan an escape to the northern states and eventually Canada, just to have the right to be treated as a human being is heart wrenching and gloriously uplifting all at the same time. Anyone who enjoyed Alex Haley's "Roots" or David L Wolper's minseries "North and South", will enjoy this book.
    • 5/5
      I decided to read this as I am making my way through "Team of rivals" which is a biography of Abraham Lincoln. I was not sure what to expect but once I got used to the archaic language and the dialogue, I found this to be a very enlightening text. I found the author's story and characters to be very compelling. I also learned a great deal about the economics of the slave trade and the treatment of slaves at the hands of their masters. I expected the character of Tom to be obsequious and subservient, aiming to please to get ahead. Tom is a highly principled, very deeply religious person who has a positive impact on those around him. In particular, at his last home, he brings hope to his fellow slaves. The denouement has a happy ending for many of the main characters who find a happier life outside the US.I really enjoyed the book, the characters and the social commentary of this time in US history. if you have not read this, you should.I downloaded this from the Gutenberg library collection
    • 5/5
      This novel must be read in the context of its own time. Looking at the book from present-day eyes, it seems to contain, not characters, but caricatures. The characters in this book became larger than life through time and collected a series of emotion attached to them that were not intended in the beginning.Beautiful and poignant, it changed history: Upon meeting the author Abraham Lincoln said, "So you're the little lady who wrote the book that made this great war." She replied, "I did not write it. God wrote it. I merely did his dictation."While most of the book is painful to read, it is a sprawling story full of amazing characters and horrific events. It is a true "slice-of-life" that we, as modern readers, can never truly understand. This book makes a huge gesture in that direction and it is well worth the uncomfortable reading, in order to honor those that lived it.