The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher [Hardcover]

Debby Applegate (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 27, 2006

No one predicted success for Henry Ward Beecher at his birth in 1813. The blithe, boisterous son of the last great Puritan minister, he seemed destined to be overshadowed by his brilliant siblings—especially his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, who penned the century’s bestselling book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. But when pushed into the ministry, the charismatic Beecher found international fame by shedding his father Lyman's Old Testament–style fire-and-brimstone theology and instead preaching a New Testament–based gospel of unconditional love and healing, becoming one of the founding fathers of modern American Christianity. By the 1850s, his spectacular sermons at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights had made him New York’s number one tourist attraction, so wildly popular that the ferries from Manhattan to Brooklyn were dubbed “Beecher Boats.”

Beecher inserted himself into nearly every important drama of the era—among them the antislavery and women’s suffrage movements, the rise of the entertainment industry and tabloid press, and controversies ranging from Darwinian evolution to presidential politics. He was notorious for his irreverent humor and melodramatic gestures, such as auctioning slaves to freedom in his pulpit and shipping rifles—nicknamed “Beecher’s Bibles”—to the antislavery resistance fighters in Kansas. Thinkers such as Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and Twain befriended—and sometimes parodied—him.

And then it all fell apart. In 1872 Beecher was accused by feminist firebrand Victoria Woodhull of adultery with one of his most pious parishioners. Suddenly the “Gospel of Love” seemed to rationalize a life of lust. The cuckolded husband brought charges of “criminal conversation” in a salacious trial that became the most widely covered event of the century, garnering more newspaper headlines than the entire Civil War. Beecher survived, but his reputation and his causes—from women’s rights to progressive evangelicalism—suffered devastating setbacks that echo to this day.

Featuring the page-turning suspense of a novel and dramatic new historical evidence, Debby Applegate has written the definitive biography of this captivating, mercurial, and sometimes infuriating figure. In our own time, when religion and politics are again colliding and adultery in high places still commands headlines, Beecher’s story sheds new light on the culture and conflicts of contemporary America.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Now nearly forgotten, Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) was an immensely famous minister, abolitionist and public intellectual whose career was rocked by allegations of adultery that made nationwide headlines. In this engaging biography, American studies scholar Applegate situates this curiously modern 19th-century figure at the focus of epochal developments in American culture. Beecher's mesmerizing oratory and fiery newspaper columns made him one of the first celebrities of the nascent mass media. His antislavery politics, though often tepid and vacillating, Applegate argues, injected a note of emotionalism into the debate that—with his sister Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin—galvanized Northern public opinion. And by preaching a loving God instead of a wrathful one, the author contends, Beecher repudiated the dour Calvinism of his youth and made happiness and self-fulfillment, rather than sin and guilt, the centerpiece of modern Christian ideology. (The implicit moral anarchy of his creed, critics charged, evinced itself in his sexual indiscretions.) Although marred by occasionally facile psychoanalysis (Applegate describes Beecher, the seventh of 12 siblings, as a classic "middle child" personality), this assessment of Beecher is judicious and critical. Applegate gives an insightful account of a contradictory, fascinating, rather Clintonesque figure who, in many ways, was America's first liberal. (June 27)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Yankee preacher Henry Ward Beecher (1813-87) knew everybody who was anybody, and his Plymouth Church in Brooklyn was a popular tourist attraction. If he was the most famous American, he was also a polarizing figure because of the abolitionism that made him "most hated" in the antebellum South. Overachievement was in his blood: father Lyman was the last great American Puritan minister; most siblings were missionaries, educators, and scholars; and sister Harriet became the most famous woman in the English-speaking world for the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Assuming Lyman's mantle, Henry distinguished himself by preaching unconditional love when most ministers prosecuted biblical literalism. Applegate well evokes Beecher's nineteenth-century milieu while making connections to the present day. Orators were celebrities then, and whereas twentieth-century evangelicals are reputedly anti-intellectual, the Beechers ardently advocated education. Adultery with his best friend's wife led to a sensational trial that irrevocably damaged Beecher's reputation. Applegate sympathetically portrays this larger-than-life figure as appealingly human. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; First edition (June 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385513968
• ISBN-13: 978-0385513968
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #574,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I started researching the notorious and charming Reverend Henry Ward Beecher when I was only 18 years old, when I was asked to put together a display on notorious but forgotten alumni as a student worker in the Amherst College Archives (I was a great fan of American history even then).

I was raised in a very unusual religious environment -- my mother's family is Mormon, my father's is Irish Catholic, I grew up around many evangelical Christians in Oregon, and my mother is a New Thought minister -- and Beecher seemed to embody the best of what religion could offer. I loved his very modern sense of humor and irreverence toward old sacred cows, and his joyful, ecumenical approach to religion and life in general. Except, of course, for the fact that he was accused (but never convicted) of an affair with his own parishioner -- which explains why he'd been forgotten.

"What a great topic for a seminar paper!" I thought as an 18 year old student, but as I began writing about him I had no idea how long Beecher would capture my imagination. Finally, after nearly twenty years with Beecher -- including several years of college, 7 years of graduate school and another 7 years of research and writing (it begins to feel almost Biblical!) -- he and I have come to our climax.

I still feel great affection for Beecher even after seeing him at his worst, including discovering a child whom I believe to be his illegitimate daughter. In both his glories and faults, he is one of the great founding fathers of modern American religion and it would be impossible to imagine American culture without his influence. Just try "googling" Henry Ward Beecher's name on the web and you will find hundreds of his pithy, profound and funny quotations collected by people who have no idea that he was once the most famous man in America.

It would thrill me if my book restores some of Beecher's well-deserved fame and infamy. My only dilemma now is what to do now that old Beecher and I have finally come to the end of our collaboration. Any suggestions from readers are very welcome....

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Four and a half stars..., October 14, 2006

By 

Cynthia K. Robertson (beverly, new jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher (Hardcover)

I would not have chosen to read a book about Henry Ward Beecher, but I received The Most Popular Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate as a gift. I was pleasantly surprised by this engrossing and well-written story.

I knew just a little about Beecher, most of it coming from Ron Power's book, Mark Twain. I wasn't aware that Beecher's father was the famous Congregationalist preacher, Lyman Beecher. Henry was born and raised in an austere, Calvinist household. They did not celebrate Christmas, holidays or birthdays. Yet, Henry did not grow up in a joyless or loveless home. Lyman adored his twelve children and spent lots of time with them, insisting that "they were endowed with great gifts of intelligence, compassion and self-discipline." Education was a priority (even for the girls) and spirited discussion was expected and encouraged.

Henry did not set out to enter the ministry, but after graduating from Amherst, he found himself enrolled in his father's seminary. Once he entered the ministry, he wasn't always the best parson, but he was a brilliant preacher. This was a time period when entertaining speakers were comparable to the rock stars of today. He eventually found a home at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights. While there, he became embroiled in the abolitionist movement. In fact, Beecher is credited with bringing anti-slavery to the mainstream.

Beecher was largely responsible for changing the core beliefs about Christianity in the 19th Century. He switched the focus from a vengeful and wrathful God to a loving and forgiving one. He was not without his critics, and some accused him of turning people into Beecherites rather than Christians. All great men have their weaknesses, and Beecher's was his ego. He liked to live very lavishly (after a very frugal start) and was constantly overextended. His wife, Eunice, was a difficult woman and Beecher's treatment of her wasn't always exemplary. But the biggest scandal to befall Beecher involved his many alleged extramarital affairs. His best friend, Theodore Tilton, eventually sued him over an alleged affair between Beecher and Tilton's wife, Elizabeth. These infidelities would blacken his name, split his parish and torture his soul.

Applegate does a magnificent job of bringing Beecher to life. The only shortcoming I can see in The Most Famous Man is that there is virtually nothing about Beecher's children. If not for this, I would have given this book a resounding 5 star vote.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A biography of great depth, November 22, 2006

By 

Bruce Bain "Romans 9:33/Remember Jackie Robinson" (Englewood, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher (Hardcover)

"The Most Famous Man in America: the biography of Henry Ward Beecher"

by DEBBY APPLEGATE

*******GENERAL*******

Without question, DEBBY APPLEGATE has tremendous depth as a biographer, but Applegate also has potential as an eminent historian. When I read her chapters, I was surprised at the depth of historical knowledge presented. The research is illuminative of all phases of the life of Henry Ward Beecher. Applegate connects Beecher to the people surrounding him, and to the American nation as a whole; but this book's real penetration is its coverage of American society leading up to the Civil War. In fact, her treatment of each member of the Beecher Family is rich, impressing upon us the importance of the Beecher family in the greater context of the fabric of the American nation. There are no indications in the cover or Introduction that inform us that Applegate has has this depth as an historian, in addition to being a good biographer.

The characterization of the proverbial "Connecticut Yankee" takes on flesh in this thorough biography, because Applegate can write concerning the fullness of the human personality which transcends the superficial aspects of human character. Not every biographer can accomplish this, but we often wouldn't know it. One is seldom aware if a biographer fails to show you something. There is nothing pedestrian about Applegate's writing. This is a writer with a gift for making a human being almost transparent.

*****SPECIFICS********

Applegate's biography comes at a time when popular authors mislead and confuse people with misinformation and extensive historical ommissions as to the character and nature of American religious figures of significance and the times in which they made significant contribution to the life of the American nation.

Applgegate has the ability to show poignant contrasts in the Beecher family, but more importantly, Applegate elaborates the background of turmoil as the controversy of slaveholding begins to embroil the young nation, For example, the author makes clear the social situation at Amherst college and other American colleges, where idealistic young men and women who were pushed toward religious revival by the faculty, surprised society by including the liberation of black slaves as part of a step away from sin and toward salvation. This was an unpredictable outcome of ever-present evangelism efforts in American communities. Applegate accurately identifies this fervor as comparable to the campus activism of the 1960's.

Furthermore, Applegate is not describing events as though they were occurrances separate from the actions of individuals, which is how textbooks often show events, as though they were disembodied from actual persons. Rather, Applegate is showing that historical and social trends are distinctly the product of specific individuals, and also that these events are the outcome of the conflict of specific ideas that are embodied in the people. An example of this is the religious strife in the Boston area brought about by the differences between the Protestants (notably Lyman Beecher) and the Catholics.

The other hotbed was in Cincinnati, OHIO where Lyman Beecher ran LANE SEMINARY, an institution whose Abolitionist activism reached boiling point, prompting mob violence and threatening the rule of law.

Applegate, in my opinion, deserves a high stature as an American biographer, and her subject is essential to a clear understanding of American history. She begins with the father, Lyman Beecher, and demonstrates the imprint he made upon his children. Sometimes that imprint was a torment, even if well intentioned. What is fascinating about Applegate's handling of Lyman Beecher is her writing never strays from a balanced and impartial neutrality. She never presents anyone as though she were, in some petty and judgemental fashion, holding the person up for us to ridicule. Applegate takes the person at face value. Perhaps Applegate comes from a family where it is commonly accepted that every person has an innate worth. I did not come from that kind of a background, but if Applegate can introduce every personality she studies, in this manner, I'm eager to read all she writes.

--Bruce R. Bain

/

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Writng, Good History, Disturbing Conclusion, January 7, 2008

By 

W. P. Farley (Spokane, Wa. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher (Paperback)

I am an author, a Christian, and a Calvinist. I love good history. However, after the deep prejudice against, and misunderstanding of Calvinism portrayed in the first two chapters, I almost put the book down.

Despite these reservations, I am glad I persevered. Applegate writes in an engaging, entertaining style. I finished with fresh incite into the political machinations of early 19th century America, especialy New York, New England, and the history of the early abolitionist movement.

I also concluded down deeply disturbed and distressed by the subject of the book, Henry Ward Beecher. Applegate repeatedly stresses two attributes of Beecher's moral character. The first was his lust for fame and popularity. The second is his continual compromise of conscience to obtain that popularity. These compromises ruined his life and the lives of many associated with him. She closes by comparing him to Dr. Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton, all good comparisons, and in my opinion, all deeply distressing hypocrites like Beecher.

I finished the book with mixed feelings of revulsion and empathy for Beecher. He was a first class hypocrite. He continually preached love, but abused and used his wife, his congregation, his business associates and the women with whom he comitted adultery. He pretended to be one thing, but in reality was the exact opposite. Was he weak? Yes, like all of us he was weak. But was he sincere? It doesn't appear that he was. A sincere man seeks help. He wants to change. He humbles himself and exposes his weakness. Beecher did none of these Instead, continually and habitually covered up the damning evidence that pointed to his sins. That is not the definition of a good person.

Did he do some good? Yes. He was a key figure in the abolitionist movement. But, in other respects he was much like the men exposed in Paul Johnson's insightful book, "Intellectuals." He was a man who loved the world in general, but was incapable of loving those closest to himself.

Despite these facts, the author was unwilling to call Beecher what he really was, "a wolf in sheeps clothing." She concludes, "His painful awareness of his own weakness and his ongoing battle to overcome them were the wellspring of his great and lasting contribution to American life: the all forgiving Gospel of Love. As Beecher would have said, without sin there can be no saving grace."

It appears that Applegate, like Beecher, is in love with love, but not real virtue. True loves serves, expends itself, humbles itself, and dies that other might live. But Applegate's conclusion spins evil, refusing to come to grips with it or condemn it. Yes God is love, but He is also justice. The two cannot be separated.

This is not the definition of a good man. I expected Applegate to draw this clear conclusion. I was disappointed.

In short, Applegate writes well. I am thankful for her research, and the volumes of excellent information on Beecher and his times. I am deeply disturbed by her conclusions. They express the same loss of moral compass as the man she writes about, Henry Ward Beecher