Rethinking Uncle Tom : the political philosophy of Harriet Beecher Stowe
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 443-453) and index.

"Generally critics and interpreters of Uncle Tom have constructed a one-way view, albeit offering a few kind words for him along the way. Recovering Uncle Tom requires retelling his story. This book delivers on that task, while accomplishing something no other work on Harriet Beecher Stowe has fully attempted; an in-depth statement of her political thought. Her oeuvre, in partnership with that of her husband, Calvin, constitutes a demonstration of the permanent necessity of moral and prudential judgment in human affairs. It identifies the political conditions that can best guarantee conditions of decency. Her two disciplines philosophy and poetry illuminate the founding principles of the American republic and remedy defects in their realization that were evident in the mid-nineteenth century. While slavery is not the only defect, its persistence and expansion indicate the overall defects. In four of her chief works (Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stinny Memories of Foreign Lands, Dred, and Oldtown Folks), Stowe teaches not only how to eliminate the defect of slavery, but also how to realize and maintain a regime founded on the basis of natural rights and Christianity."--BOOK JACKET.