| Description |
581 pages ; 21 cm |
| Summary |
"Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century and the second best-selling book of that century, following the Bible. It is credited with helping fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s. In 1852, the first year after it was published, 300,000 copies of the book were sold in the United States; one million copies in Great Britain. In 1855, three years after it was published, it was called "the most popular novel of our day." The impact attributed to the book is great, reinforced by a story that when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe at the start of the Civil War, Lincoln declared, "So this is the little lady who started this great war." The quote is apocryphal; it did not appear in print until 1896, and it has been argued that "The long-term durability of Lincoln's greeting as an anecdote in literary studies and Stowe scholarship can perhaps be explained in part by the desire among many contemporary intellectuals ... to affirm the role of literature as an agent of social change"--Wikipedia |
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When a Kentucky farmer is forced to sell two slaves to a plantation owner, it becomes a turning point in the lives of both slaves. For Eliza, it's one of escape--a harrowing flight north with her young son. For Uncle Tom, sent down the Mississippi River, it's a more certain fate, as he struggles to survive against the brutal exploitation of his traders. As the single most popular novel of its era, Stowe's volatile work of protest fiction fueled the abolitionist cause in the 1850s. The book personalized the plight of slavery in a way that political speeches and newspapers could not. Stowe's humanistic approach ignited a national argument, one credited by historians as a key contributor to the outbreak of the Civil War. |
| Subject |
Literature and society -- United States -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction.
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Uncle Tom (Fictitious character) -- Fiction.
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Political fiction.
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Enslaved persons -- United States -- Social conditions -- Fiction.
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Master and servant -- Fiction.
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Fugitive slaves -- Fiction.
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| Added Title |
Uncle Tom's cabin
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| ISBN |
9781542049122 (paperback) |
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1542049121 (paperback) |
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