Mightier Than the Sword Book Review by Andrew Delbanco

Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Boxing for America

by David S. Reynolds

"Fascinating…a lively and perceptive cultural history."

— Annette Gordon-Reed, The New Yorker

Praise

Purchase

REVIEWERS' FAVORTIES OF THE YEAR

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—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY and LIBRARY JOURNAL

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Well-nigh the Volume

Uncle Tom'south Cabin is perchance the most influential and iconic novel ever written by an American. In this captivating cultural history, David South. Reynolds not only charts the factors that conspired to brand Harriet Beecher Stowe'southward 1852 an instant bestseller just besides traces the novel's political, cultural, and social legacy upwards to the present 24-hour interval.

As Reynolds reveals, the American imagination was primed for Stowe's novel. A member of a prominent, reform-minded New England family unit, Stowe drew from all realms of culture, loftier and low—religion, thrillers, slave narratives—to create a uniquely American text, one that would abet on behalf of the oppressed and pave the way for a more egalitarian democracy.

Past illustrating the evils of slavery with a moving, character-driven story—which Stowe claimed was inspired by her ain divine visions—Uncle Tom's Cabin accelerated the ascension of abolitionism in the north. In the South, it met with contrasting reactions: information technology appealed to some with its portrayal of kind southerners and an evil northerner, Simon Legree, while others could not condemn it enough. Could a single book have fueled the Ceremonious War? Reynolds investigates this ofttimes-mentioned assumption to gauge how this one woman contributed to the fracturing of the nation.

In the war's wake, Uncle Tom's Cabin influenced emancipation causes worldwide, during that century and the next. And, despite the legalized segregation of the Jim Crow era, it remained popular, being spun off into traveling shows, silent films, advertizing campaigns, cartoons, and merchandise ranging from figurines to card games. The Southern backlash to its pawned such works as The Clansman; its motion-picture show version, The Birth of a Nation; and even Gone with the Current of air.

Fascinating and far-reaching, Mightier than the Sword is a testament to one novel'southward unique power to shape the course of American history and identity.

Critical Praise for Mightier Than the Sword

"Fascinating…a lively and perceptive cultural history."
— Annette Gordon-Reed, The New Yorker

Praise [link to the following blurbs]:

"Insightful,….informative,….rewarding."

— Andrew Delbanco, New York Times Book Review

"A stunning look at the importance of Harriet Beecher Stowe'south Uncle Tom's Cabin."

–Stanley Crouch, New York Daily News

"A subtle and fantabulous history of the novel'southward result on American culture."

–Fergus Bordewich, Wall Street Journal

"Bravura work….Reynolds has given u.s.a. another cultural history of assured mastery, a history that combines deep erudition, lightly worn, with a lively and readable fashion."

—Dallas Morning News

"Consistently enlightening…Mightier Than the Sworddeftly explores the social-intellectual context and personal experience out of which Stowe's novel evolved into a grand entertainment and a titanic engine of modify."

—The Boston World

"Expansive and illuminating….One of the pleasures of "Mightier Than the Sword" is discovering that "Uncle Tom's fingerprints on history are almost everywhere."

– Adam Goodheart, Slate

"Uncle Tom'southward Cabin invigorated the aboltion motility in a way that mere data had not, as David S. Reynolds dcocuments in his excellent written report."

–Martha Nussbaum, Times Literary Suplement

" A richly informative and entertaining work of scholarship, a generation-spanning account of American race relations, and a testament to the power of a book to modify history….A sparkling and sprawling narrative."

—Common-place

"The crowning achievement of a lifetime of outstanding scholarship….Well written and accessible while still being useful for researchers. It tells a great story and provides much interesting detail, and I would highly recommend it for history buffs as well as literature students of all ages."

–Harold K. Bush-league, Books and Culture

Starred Review: "A provocative overview of the life and afterlife of 1 of American literature's well-nigh important texts….A sharp work of cross-disciplinary criticism that gives new ability to a diminished novel. Reynolds successfully repositions the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe equally a major political work, crucial not only to the abolitionist move, merely as kindling for the Civil War and an of import inspiration to the cultural discussions of race relations through nigh of the 20th century"

— Kirkus Reviews

"Reynolds is a virtuoso writer…A plumbing fixtures tribute to the 200th anniversary of Harriet Beecher Stowe's nascence."

–Mike Harvkey, Publishers Weekly

"Beautifully written, convincing, and fascinating…. Reynolds's illustration of the centrality of Stowe's work in the reformulation of American culture before, during, and after the Ceremonious War is most impressive."

—Indiana Magazine of History

"A wonderful history of what may justly be considered America'south national epic."

–Joan Hedrick, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life

"Deeply researched and compulsively readable…Both the definitive business relationship of the strange but true career of Uncle Tom'south Motel and a sweeping ii-hundred year history of race in America."

–Debby Applegate, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher

"You tin can ever count on David Reynolds to surprise and delight, and in his latest work, he does not disappoint. This fourth dimension, he sets his sights on the far-ranging and fascinating affect of Harriet Beecher Stowe's mammoth bestseller, Uncle Tom's Motel. In Reynolds's gifted hands, Mightier Than The Sword is nothing less than an intellectual feast. Bravo for still another superb book."

–Jay Winik, author of April 1865 and The Great Upheaval

Readers' Comments:

v.0 out of 5 stars A Mighty Pen Writing about Stowe'due south Mightier "Sword"

This is a terrific effort past Professor Reynolds. It is a masterful report of an important writer and her almost of import work. Highly recommended. It enhances one'south agreement of our near important ceremonious disharmonize.

Reynolds goes into great detail virtually the philosophical, religious and literary underpinnings of Harriet Beecher Stowe's most influential novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and shows u.s.a. what influenced HBS in the writing of it. There is as well sensitive assay of HBS's family, her personal life and her own psyche. All of this is handled in a sensitive and quietly insightful fashion. His measured assay of the work's influence on the events leading to the Civil State of war and the state of war itself are too handled quite well. Reynolds mixes the anecdotal with the documented historical information very judiciously.
Reynolds treats the work itself with respect, placing it in the literary context of its fourth dimension, and discusses the strengths and effects of its portraiture and construction. Reynolds is skilful at showing us why the piece of work had the great effect that it did.

What emerges is a measured, but clearly reverential portrait of HBS. The latter part of the book traces the ebbs and flows (more than flows than ebbs) of the book's influence over the last 150 years. Uncle Tom is alive today, and quite well, the Professor shows us, very convincingly. This piece of work was meticulously researched and skillfully knitted together. It tells its story in an entertaining and yet educational way.

The word "popularizer" is ofttimes viewed equally a pejorative. But Professor Reynolds brings HBS and Uncle Tom to a modern audience with skill and grace.

–Tony Covatta

Media Appearances for Mightier Than the Sword :

Goggle box Interviews

David Southward. Reynolds on C-SPAN-ii, about Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom'south Cabin and the Battle for America

David S. Reynolds interviewed by Doug Muzzio about Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Motel and the Battle for America on "Urban center Talk," CUNY TV

Radio Interviews

David S. Reynolds interviewed about Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Motel and the Battle for America, "The Diane Rehm Prove," WAMU-FM/National Public Radio

David S. Reynolds interviewed about Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom'due south Cabin and the Battle for America by John Batchelor, WABC National Radio

David S. Reynolds (and Annette Gordon-Reed) interviewed near Harriet Beecher Stowe by Marc Steiner on WEAA 88.9 FM

David S. Reynolds, interviewed by Kerri Miller on "How Did 'Uncle Tom'south Motel' Shape America?,' MPRNews, The Daily Circuit, September 26, 2012.

David Southward. Reynolds interviewed about Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom'south Cabin and the Battle for America by Wilmer Leon, "Inside the Problems," XM Aqueduct 169

Lecture

David S. Reynolds'due south Talk and Q & A on Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America, Fitton Eye, Hamilton, Ohio

Podcasts

David Southward. Reynolds interviewed about Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom'due south Motel and the Battle for America by Gerald Cirrincione, "The Art of the Tangent"

David Southward. Reynolds on Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America for Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History

David S. Reynolds interviewed virtually Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Motel and the Battle for America past Francesca Rheannon on "Writer'southward Voice"

Newspapers & Mag Interviews

David S. Reynolds interviewed almost Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom'due south Motel and the Battle for America by Randy Dotinga, Christian Scientific discipline Monitor

David Southward. Reynolds interviewed about "The Woman Who Caused the Ceremonious War" past Teresa Cotsirilos, Salon

Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom'south Cabin and the Battle for America on "City Talk," CUNY Boob tube

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Source: https://davidsreynolds.com/?page_id=168