Customer Reviews

Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin

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Upon publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, HB Stowe was attacked immediately by pro-slavery writers. Her work was dismissed as fiction, an abolitionist's distorted view, and totally representing slavery in the South. Mrs. Stowe responded by collecting and expanding her factual documentation. She started to write a 25-page pamphlet, to be added as an appendix to the next edition of Cabin. But the work consumed her, as she confronted the stories of many escaped slaves, newspaper articles, court testimony, and even the text of state laws. The defense project grew to over 500 pages, and is a major work in its own right.

Frederick Douglas called it a major contribution to the war against slaveholders: "...for the 'Key' not only proves the correctness of every essential part of Uncle Tom's Cabin, but proves more and worse things against themurderous system than are alleged in that great book."

Historians and history teachers must have this book, as a reference and as an experience. Anyone who strives to understand the burning issues that ignited the War between the States needs this book. I recommend it.

When Harriet Beecher Stowe published "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in 1852, many people questioned whether the novel accurately and truthfully described the horrors and depravity of slavery. In response, she published "A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin," a nonfiction book "presenting the original facts and documents" upon which her novel was based -- letters, newspaper articles, classified ads and other documents.

I'm so grateful for Stowe's thoroughness, because this book proved invaluable in my own research for my historical novel "All Different Kinds of Free." I learned about the book during a trip visiting in-laws. Our cousin Donna took us to the Living History Farms in Urbandale, Iowa, at a point early in my book research. While perusing the wares of Schafer Drug Store (in the 1875 Town of Walnut Hill), I was beyond thrilled to discover the book on the shelf.

If you're researching slavery or the 1800s, buying a copy of this book is worth the investment (whether you buy it online or make the trip to Iowa's Living History Farms, which I also recommend! [...])

My reason for reading this book was to understand why some Blacks today are called 'Uncle Toms'. Once I began the book, I realized that I would have to stop looking at the book frrom the perspective of a Black woman in the year 2001. That the author was not a slave or a Black is very obvious, and her own misconceptions about Blacks are very disturbing. But she is, after all, writing from her the only point of view she knew. I found the book to be very engrossing, easy to read and also interesting enough to keep me from flipping to the end.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin was a very good book. I wouldn't encourage younger people like 4th and 5th graders to read it, but I think everyone needs to read it by the time they graduate from school."