Excerpt from A Peep Into Uncle Tom's Cabin: With an Address From Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, to the Children of England and America Dear Children of England and America, A kind friend has prepared for you this little book, from "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and has requested of the author to say a few words, by way of preface. Well, then, let her tell you how this story came into the world. Long before it was ever written down at all, it was told to a circle of children, and then, as fast as it was told to them, it was written down; and there was a great deal of laughing and crying among these children, you may be sure, and a great deal of hurrying that it might be got through with. So you see the story belongs to children very properly. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

A critical and historical interpretation of Uncle Tom's Cabin, reflecting the best of recent scholarship.

“Fascinating . . . a lively and perceptive cultural history.” —Annette Gordon-Reed, The New Yorker In this wide-ranging, brilliantly researched work, David S. Reynolds traces the factors that made Uncle Tom’s Cabin the most influential novel ever written by an American. Upon its 1852 publication, the novel’s vivid depiction of slavery polarized its American readership, ultimately widening the rift that led to the Civil War. Reynolds also charts the novel’s afterlife—including its adaptation into plays, films, and consumer goods—revealing its lasting impact on American entertainment, advertising, and race relations.