Classics, Contemporary, Literary, Politics & Social Sciences, Literature, Social Sciences 

Uncle Tom, Topsy, Sambo, Simon Legree, little Eva: their names are American bywords, and all of them are characters in Harriet Beecher Stowe's remarkable novel of the pre-Civil War South. Uncle Tom's Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment of slavery and for its presentation of Tom, "a man of humanity," as the first black hero in American fiction. Labeled racist and condescending by some contemporary critics, it remains a shocking, controversial, and powerful work -- exposing the attitudes of white nineteenth-century society toward "the peculiar institution" and documenting, in heartrending detail, the tragic breakup of black Kentucky families "sold down the river." An immediate international sensation, Uncle Tom's Cabin sold 300,000 copies in the first year, was translated into thirty-seven languages, and has never gone out of print: its political impact was immense, its emotional influence immeasurable. - Publisher. 

Publisher Comments
Selling more than 300,000 copies the first year it was published, Stowe's powerful abolitionist novel fueled the fire of the human rights debate in 1852. Denouncing the institution of slavery in dramatic terms, the incendiary novel quickly draws the reader into the world of slaves and their masters.
Stowe's characters are powerfully and humanly realized in Uncle Tom, a majestic and heroic slave whose faith and dignity are never corrupted; Eliza and her husband, George, who elude slave catchers and eventually flee a country that condones slavery; Simon Legree, a brutal plantation owner; Little Eva, who suffers emotionally and physically from the suffering of slaves; and fun-loving Topsy, Eva's slave playmate.

Critics, scholars, and students are today revisiting this monumental work with a new objectivity, focusing on Stowe's compelling portrayal of women and the novel's theological underpinnings. 

Genre/Form: Political fiction
Didactic fiction
Fiction
Additional Physical Format: Online version:
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896.
Uncle Tom's Cabin.
New York : A.A. Knopf, ©1995
(OCoLC)760077366
Named Person: Uncle Tom, (Fictitious character); Uncle Tom, (Fictitious character)
Material Type: Fiction, Internet resource
Document Type: Book, Internet Resource
All Authors / Contributors: Harriet Beecher Stowe

ISBN: 0679443657 9780679443650
OCLC Number: 32441254
Description: xxix, 494 pages ; 22 cm.
Contents: Introduction --
Select bibliography --
Chronology --
Preface --
Volume I. The reader is introduced to a man of humanity --
The mother --
The husband and father --
An evening in Uncle Tom's cabin --
Showing the feelings of living property on changing owners --
Discovery --
The mother's struggle --
Eliza's escape --
It appears that a senator is but a man --
The property is carried off --
Property gets into an improper state of mind --
Select incident of lawful trade --
The Quaker settlement --
Evangeline --
Of Tom's new master, and various other matters --
Tom's mistress and her opinions --
The freeman's defence --
Miss Ophelia's experiences and opinions --
Volume II. Miss Ophelia's experiences and opinions, continued --
Topsy --
Kentuck --
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth --
Henrique --
Foreshadowings --
The little evangelist --
Death --
This is the last of earth --
Reunion --
The unprotected --
The slave warehouse --
The middle passage --
Dark places --
Cassy --
The quadroon's story --
The tokens --
Emmeline and Cassy --
Liberty --
The victory --
The stratagem --
The martyr --
The young master --
An authentic ghost story --
Results --
The liberator --
Concluding remarks.
Series Title: Everyman's library, 206.
Responsibility: Harriet Beecher Stowe ; with an introduction by Alfred Kazin.