Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America

by David S. Reynolds

“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.

15 illustrations

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Civil War, American History, Books About Books, Race, Biography

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 13, 2011

About the author

David S. Reynolds is a Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies at the City University of New York. His works include the award-winning Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson, Walt Whitman's America, and John Brown, Abolitionist. He lives on Long Island in New York.

Reviews

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

David S. Reynolds' Mightier Than the Sword considers the impact and long afterlife of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Reynolds, a cultural historian and literary scholar, sketches Stowe's background as a member of the famous evangelist-activist family (her father was famed priest Lyman Beecher, her brother the abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher), influencing both her politics and view of Christianity as an ennobling force that not only allowed, but necessitated social change. Such a woman was perceptive enough to create a portrait of slavery that vividly, if not always accurately, captured the inhumanity of the "peculiar institution," enough that many blamed her for inflaming tensions that caused the Civil War. While Uncle Tom is regarded as problematic at best today, Reynolds persuasively argues for its significance in couching slavery in Christianized, middle-class terms that made abolition more accessible to a wider audience, creating humanized (if stereotypical) Black characters possible for white readers of the time to empathize with. The novel inspired abolitionists and progressive reformers across the world, while also leading to a backlash by slavery apologists (evinced by the execrable "Anti-Tom" genre of Southern novels). Reynolds also shows that the play lived in on a pair of dueling theatrical interpretations that ran constantly in the late 19th Century century; both altered, enhanced and undercut Stowe's progressive message (mating its already lurid melodrama with tropes borrowed from minstrel shows and other, more demeaning characterizations of African-Americans). Ironically, its popularity ensured that its more problematic elements seeped into American culture, from novels like Gone With the Wind to Mickey Mouse cartoons; the term "Uncle Tom" itself became a damning epithet used against Blacks who debased themselves to gain favor from the white establishment. Reynolds isn't always convincing when addressing the novel's propagation of these tropes, which linger on today in art, entertainment and even politics; the book would benefit from more sustained analysis of how even benign stereotyping of minorities can have baleful effects on how they're perceived and treated. But the balance of the book, nonetheless, is a valuable account of how a novel changed American history, and culture, in ways only its author could have imagined.

[Ayn Nys · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most fascinating books I have read this year. Reynolds dives deep into the politics of the time, and it is very easy to see parallels between Stowe's time and the present. Also, a thorough explanation of how the term Uncle Tom, once high praise, turned into an epithet, and how some of the most prominent people who used it as an epithet experienced the same name-calling from others.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I appreciate Reynolds' ambition in taking on the topic of the worldwide political/social/historical impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and respect his thoroughness in addressing the topic. I learned from this book, and I won't say I'm sorry I read it.

But I wouldn't recommend Mightier than the Sword to someone, like me, who is interested in an engaging read as a casual student of history and literature. I found it disorganized and repetitive. More than a few times Reynolds writes "As mentioned earlier ...," which made me wish he had organized hia material so as not to repeat it. I learned interesting facts, but they could have been presented in a much shorter form. And, since I really wasn't excited to learn nearly as much detail as Reynolds presents about the oh-so-many versions of Uncle Tom plays from the book's publication in 1852 to the 1950's, it was way too much for me.

Substantively, Reynolds did encourage me to reconsider the notion that Uncle Tom's Cabin promoted negative racial stereotypes (e.g., the Mammy, pickaninny and Uncle Tom characters). But I found weak his conclusory statements, peppered throughout, that those who advanced criticism of Stowe and UTC somehow just didn't "get it." (My words, but his sentiment.) His last paragraph of the book was also conclusory, preachy and a leap. It just didn't work for me. Finally, he inserted himself into the last chapter in the first person. I didn't get that.

I feel badly sharing negative thoughts as one of the first reviewers, given the amount of research Reynolds did and the connections he made. Mightier than the Sword has many redeeming qualities. But I personally did not enjoy it. Hence, 1 star.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a discussion of how Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic novel brought the American people to abolition. Like UTC, it was written for white people, about white people, and argues that Stowe's vision of race relations was revolutionary. Reynolds provides a useful survey of 175 years of American pop culture to put Uncle Tom's Cabin in its cultural and rhetorical context. Unfortunately, his calling Stowe's racist use of slave stereotypes "subversive" doesn't make it so. And Roots is not the last word in anti-racism in America.

In Our Time, on the novel:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003c1bp

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly skimmed around in this for useful info for teaching my senior seminar on Uncle Tom's Cabin and Moby-Dick. It provided some excellent context that was valuable to students (a couple of them also borrowed the book for their final research essays), and validated some of what I had already told them as we prepared to read the novel. Not much of the information was wholly new, especially since I've spent extensive time on the Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture site hosted by UVA, but it's nice to have it all in one place to form a cohesive picture of the novel's impact.

[Cindi · Rating 3 out of 5]

First I have to say, I have never read the Harriet Beecher Stowe book, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” I am, however, familiar enough with the novel and characters to be able to easily read this examination of Stowe’s American classic that “started the Civil War,” as many have claimed.

Reynolds covers a lot of territory as he writes about the family in which Stowe was born into and goes into great depth about her religious upbringing, her marriage, and the situations that made this a well-known family throughout America both before and after the Civil War. About the first half of the book is what I would deem backstory for the reader to gain a better understanding of Stowe’s motives and personal life that all contributed to the creation of not only Uncle Tom, but also Little Eva, Topsy, Simon Legree, and other characters from the book.

The second half of Reynolds analysis goes more in-depth into each of the characters of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and how they were received in both the north and the south at a time when tensions were already nearing a tipping point. He looks at the history of the book in society even after the Civil War ended, through the Reconstruction Era, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement and more. According to Reynolds, Stowe’s novel has had a lasting effect on not only American culture, but the culture of other Western societies.

I learns more about American history as it is taught in public schools, but I would likely disagree with Reynolds on some points. While us can believe that Stowe’s best known work did create change in America that lasts through our modern times, I don’t believe it was this book alone that accomplished all that Reynolds claims it has.

[Lisa Tangen · Rating 4 out of 5]

exhaustively researched. Extremely well-written. Since my husband and I both loved Uncle Tom's Cabin this book was a relative Delight to read as it gave a much better understanding of that book during its time and the effects it had. I appreciated knowing so much more about Harriet Beecher Stowe and her contemporaries and the issues of the times Learning more about her enemies and those who vehemently hated her work was upsetting. I especially hated the works that sprang up to co-opt Stowe's characters and storyline. I found it interesting how long the book's popularity extended and then almost dropped completely out of sight for a few decades. it wasn't required reading during any of my schooling, but I think it should be. I learned a lot from this book and think the author did an amazing job. while he's a professor of English, he could also easily be a history prof, given the depth of his understanding for the 360 view of life back then and since.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This's a book about Stowe's influences for writing "Uncle Tom's Cabin", and America's reception of it - mainly at the time, but also later on as plays based on it became among the most popular form of theater in America.

It's been ages since I read "Uncle Tom's Cabin", but I probably remember about as much of it as the playwrights decided to keep of it.  But according to Reynolds, they did usually keep the central message:  black people can be sympathetic, even heroic, characters.  And that was a great strike in the "battle for America" of the title:  the Civil War, and then race relations in general.

What I hoped for but didn't really get was an analysis of how "Uncle Tom" came to be an insult.  Reynolds mentions that but doesn't really explain how that became the popular interpretation.

[sorrowmancer · Rating 4 out of 5]

stunningly in-depth examination of the lives and after-lives of Uncle Tom's Cabin. got a bit of a rose colored glasses thing going on about Americanism, incrementalism, and "racial progress," was written at height of Obama's popularity. this is felt most acutely when the book's focus on strictly the positive aspects of Black actors' dignified portrayals of racist fictional characters is put to use to defend films like The Legend of Bagger Vance and The Green Mile as featuring a
"sympathetic, realistic depiction of blacks in nurturing roles... supportive Black characters [who] have gifts or depths of humanity that make them valuable assets to their white friends."

[Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting cultural history of the impact of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. While the detailing of the abolitionist movement pre-Civil War was a bit complex, this history shows how the novel had a lasting influence, not just in the 19th Century popular culture of the day but worldwide (especially in Russia). While reading Stowe's novel was a chore, I was able to appreciate her novel's influence - even if it is less of a novel, but more of a series of incidents involving her invented stock characters, racist depictions aside. There is a detailed account of the 'Uncle Tom' shows that had an influence on several American writers of the time - including Mark Twain and Henry James; and also the Southern response - culminating in D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, a glorification of the Ku Klux Klan. Stowe's novel was very much of its time - 19th Century America, but her achievement was that she depicted slavery in all its evil and made readers think about the book.

[Naomi Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost forgot that we were reading this book with Uncle Tom's Cabin, so I bought it and binged the audiobook in two days. Fascinating analysis of the cultural and political influences of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Public opinion can be swayed by stories and public opinion can sway policy decisions. Although we bemoan the current political polarization, it was even more extreme in the !850s. I appreciated the explanations about religious beliefs, complicity of Northern financiers, and misuse of the term "Uncle Tom".

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s lots of interesting historical information in the book, and I hope to follow up on some of the points to learn more about 19th century history. But it’s weak on organization of topics, particularly in later chapters that bounce around chronologically and string together odd changes in focus.

[Ralphz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at the impact of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," but not in the way I was thinking.

I was expecting a good long look at the book's impact on policy, legislation, politics, the Civil War, and the like. And that's covered - briefly.

The rest is a look at the Stowe family, Harriet Beecher Stowe's interaction with other authors, the dozens of plays inspired by the book, and the merchandising of the book - Uncle Tom cigars, Little Eva soap, and the like.

And, for some reason, the book begins with attacks on Calvinism and capitalism, turning both into straw men for slavery itself.

There were some interesting things here, but not enough.

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skimmed for Civil War stuff.

[James Bechtel · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Brian Willis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at the cultural influences that gathered in Harriet Beecher Stowe to produce Uncle Tom's Cabin, and its impact on America in the 1850s and beyond. Informative, though I wasn't gripped by it.

[Adria Mae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mightier than the Sword is an excellent resource for learning about the history behind the writing of Uncle Tom's Cabin and the effects of that famous novel.

[Sonya McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very well researched reception history, but I thought it was too repetitive.

[bored reader]

good

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more about the impact of the novel than about the novel itself. I really enjoyed the first part, which helps to place the novel in the assumptions of the time and then discusses the novel's impact. The second part drags more, I thought, although it had a lot more information that was new to me. Too much trivia I suppose. I thought his observations on the Roots miniseries were interesting -- I'd seen the parallels of the cultural impact myself, but I had not known some of the things he says about the influence Stowe may have had on Alex Haley.

[Bob Gustafson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've written dozens of reviews and this is probably the most difficult book to evaluate so far. I don't recall how I came to it. Maybe it was recommended by Amazon after I had bought "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" was one of the best books that I have read in the last ten years. I was born, grew up and lived exclusively in white America (except for a year in Venezuela) until I took a position teaching in a predominantly African-American high school. That job ended after sixteen years due to a sudden disability. I read "Uncle Tom's Cabin" years later, I had wished that I had read it many years before.

So that's what I came to the book with. The story starts out with biographical background of Harriet Beecher, tells about her upbringing, her family and her marriage. The author could have done a lot more. The question is "What was the author's purpose?"

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" was published in 1853. Washington Irving was 70. Ralph Waldo Emerson was 50. Walt Whitman was 34. Mark Twain was 18. It was one year before the Kansas Nebraska Act. Yet the author fails to set the scene either in terms of literature or in terms of history. He does a little, but not much.

The next chapter should have been about the period between publication and the Emancipation Proclamation, including the disintegration of the Whig Party, the rise of the Republicans, John Brown's Raid, the beating Charles Sumner took on the senate floor, the beginning of the Civil War. The author develops this, but given the title of the book, one would have expected a lot more.

The war ends, reconstruction begins and ends, the Jim Crow era begins. Harriet Beecher Stowe and her husband tried to develop a settlement for free blacks in Florida. No mention is made of Stowe's relationships with other abolitionists either before or after the war. No mention is made of Freedman's Bureaus. Mention is made of a book that Stowe wrote years later regarding the lives of blacks in the south after reconstruction.

What the author really goes into detail about is what happens to Stowe's book. Hundreds of thousands of copies are sold in the U.S. and England. It is translated into many languages and is a success in many countries. Theatrical producers write plays based on the book during the period between the Civil War and the advent of cinema. These plays are great successes, but the deviate greatly from the novel, with the intent on entertaining rather than on enlightening. the author goes on and on about these plays. Maybe they merited this much attention, but it doesn't seem so.

The author goes off topic and writes about D.W. Griffiths "Birth of a Nation" and Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" and continues writing about literature and cinema about American race up until and including the work of Arthur Haley. Why?

There's a lot of good stuff in this book, but there's a lot of stuff missing and a lot of unnecessary stuff included. Therefore, three stars.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

In reading Mightier Than the Sword, by David S. Reynolds, I was really moved by how he presented Uncle Tom’s Cabin in such a positive light. So many people today view it as a negative novel, the way it is “sentimental” to pull at heart strings, how all the slaves “had” to be helped by white men and women, and the fact that Tom never ran away but chose to honor the “contract” of his masters. What I personally feel has caused this shift from honoring Uncle Tom and all the other characters to having their names now be used as derogatory terms was the over-popularity of the novel. As this book became so sought after and was selling millions of copies; everyone wanted a piece of the pie. But when there such a wide amount of people madly grabbing to make their fortunes, they tend to forget about what the book actually stood for and was truing to change. Plays and films are being made but instead of honoring and revealing the social issues that Harriet Beecher Stowe was writing about, these pieces switch to being all about entertainment and cheap laughs. No longer are we shown the characters going through different trials to reveal the hypocrisies and social injustices of the time, but instead are given pure mockery or in extreme cases sexual innuendo. Too few people actually read the novel and understand how the characters and situations can be easily relatable. Uncle Tom is more than a slave toiling in the United States waiting for his freedom, but is a figurehead for any oppressed people. As Reynolds has written, Tom easily connected to the Russian serfs, the Chinese peasants, the Chinese immigrants in America, Jews all over the world, black slaves in Brazil, black slaves in Cuba, etc. Tom’s passive resistance to Simon Legree, as he does not listen to Legree’s warning but continues to stand up for what he believes and aids the mulatto woman Luce, Cassy, and Emmeline; can even connect to passive resistance done by Gandhi in India, Martin Luther King Jr. in the South, and Cesar Chavez here in California. While the unjust situations may never be the same as the things that Tom or the other slaves had to go through, wherever trouble arises and people are suffering Uncle Tom is there struggling alongside and encouraging the oppressed that everything will be alright in the end.

[Elizabeth K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting this to be edifying, so it was a bonus that it was also very readable. This is an overarching view of the famous novel, starting with a brief biography of Stowe to get a context of what's going on philosophically, spiritually, and culturally in her immediate circle, and goes on through the reception of the book, backlash to it, the endless songs and plays (and later films) inspired by it, and it's general impact on pop culture, which is a lot.

Especially for fellow Betsy-Tacy fans, I know I am going to be even more excited the next time I reread Downtown, because after reading this, I feel like I can visualize the play so much better. I was also surprised to learn from this book that by that time, it would not have been unusual for black actors to appear in some roles alongside white actors in blackface. I really had no idea that type of blended cast was a possibility. And not just minor roles, either.

My biggest issue with this book is that David Reynolds LOVES Uncle Tom's Cabin. Okay, that's not the issue -- he's very convincing of its merits. But is it a PERFECT book? There are times when he acknowledges flaws ... but is not very specific. I would love to know, in fact, I was really dying to know, in his opinion, specifically (show your work!), what aspects he feels do not work. I guess I would feel more comfortable succumbing to his high praise if I was seeing examples of his objectivity as well.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reynolds redeems himself in the last two chapters of this book. OK, maybe not "himself", but the topic. The point of Mightier than the Sword is to provide a context for the authoring and cultural acceptance of Uncle Tom's Cabin, perhaps the most socially powerful novel ever written. Reynolds does that well. It's just that the first few chapters are all about Harriet Beecher Stowe, her family, and a parsing of some of the day's social issues and their characters. At least to me, this era of Americana (post-Jackson, pre-Civil War) is helplessly boring. I would have preferred the first 40% of the book to come in a 30 minute video documentary version.

That said, Reynolds' depiction of the world after Uncle Tom's Cabin's release was nothing short of mind-blowing. I had no idea how culturally significant this book was to pretty much all American art created during and after the Civil War. If you think something like Harry Potter is popular now, you would be startled to learn how omnipresent UTC was after its release, both in America and internationally. And its direct popularity lasted for over 50 years! The way Reynolds weaves UTC's story into the history of the KKK and the Civil Rights movement is stellar historical work. I really loved those last two chapters.

I'd recommend reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, maybe skimming the early chapters of Mightier than the Sword, then chomping down on the last two chapters.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engrossing history of Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and the context surrounding it. The author argues that Stowe's best known work was a primary cause of the Civil War. It did this by getting many in the North to become more abolitionist while coalescing pro-slavery elements defending the peculiar institution. According to Prof. Reynolds "Uncle Tom's Cabin" itself was a somewhat more balanced work than the host of plays that were based on its content. The plays brought the anti-slavery theme to those who could not read as well as providing a visual portrayal of life. Two bodies of literature developed as a result of the books publication, one was anti-slavery supporting her and the other pro-slavery which attacked Stowe and her work before, during, and after the Civil War. It was the later group that, in effect, won out due to D. W. Griffith's "Birth of A Nation" that was based on novels by an anti-African American Southerner, which further inflamed racial animosities.

[Jeri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish GR had half stars. This was better than a 3, if not so good as a 4. So, 3.5. An interesting look at Uncle Tom's influence in causing the Civil War, and its impact after. It drags interminably in parts, but nevertheless does a good job in showing the spread and intensity of Uncle Tom fervor, not just in the ante-bellum US, but also internationally.

It was also an interesting comparison in book mania then and today: who knew that, just as today, marketing madness accompanies a literary phenomenon: Uncle Tom jigsaw puzzles, Topsy/Little Eva dolls, Simon Legree commemorative plates. Bizarre.

[Marge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reynolds' book was engaging and passionate, about an engaging and passionate topic. When I recently read Uncle Tom's Cabin, I both thought I was reading it for the first time, and I was also surprised that so many of the scenes were so familiar. Reynolds' book helped me realize how very much Stowe's novel was popularized in various forms, over time. I must have seen one of them as a child. But, of course, Reynolds is also very interesting on Stowe's background, which I wondered about as I read the novel, and on the society in which she lived.

[Patricrk patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Far more people saw the play than read the book. The various plays and scenes from the play were a staple of American Theater for 77 years. The impact of the book turned the Boston mob around from "always willing to help a hunt for a fugitive slave" to federal troops were necessary to keep slave hunters safe. The book was crafted in such a way that it appealed to socialist, abolitionist, christian evangicals and prohibionist. A good look at a book that changes the world.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was ok, his writing is clear and understandable. My issue was that it was uninteresting to me. I don't study this time period of US history, heck, I've never even read Uncle Tom's Cabin. Only 1 person in our class had read it at all. Caused a disconnect in general. Reynolds is all about how positive the novel was recieved and reproduced. He's clearly ignoring any alternative use of Tomitudes as well.

[Roy Kenagy]

"the most important book in American history?" http://bitly.com/RdNYO5

"The heart of the book covers the debates over race, slavery, and the extent to which Uncle Tom's Cabin—or any novel, for that matter—can be said to "change" history. Reynolds argues vehemently in favor of fiction's ability to do so, and he makes a very good case for it."