Stowe, Harriet Beecher

(US 1811–90)

The publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly (1851–2) catapulted Stowe to fame. Undoubtedly the most famous anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin became the best-seller of the nineteenth century and was a catalyst in dividing North and South in the American Civil War. Stowe made three tours of Europe where she developed important friendships with, among others, Lady Byron and George Eliot. Dred (1856), a lesser-known anti-slavery novel, tells the sensational tale of a slave rebellion. A devout Protestant, Stowe believed slavery destroyed the souls of men and women and was, therefore, an affront to Christian beliefs. Set in New England, The Minister's Wooing (1859) and The Pearl of Orr's Island (1862) draw heavily on the virtues of Christian salvation. As well as novels, Stowe wrote books on housekeeping, the ‘servant problem’, children's stories, and studies of the poor.

Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain.

See SOCIAL ISSUES, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA  EW