Rethinking Uncle Tom

Rethinking Uncle Tom thoroughly explains Uncle Tom's Cabin as an articulation of the conditions of democratic life and the nature of modern humanism. The most mature elements of Stowe's political thought emerge from a close reading of Sunny Memories and of Oldtown Folks. This book develops familiarity with the moral discourse of abolition and nineteenth-century reformism, and it offers a glimpse of an America envisioned as producing a nobility of soul represented in the human model of surpassing excellence.

Generally critics and interpreters of Uncle Tom have constructed a one-way view of Uncle Tom, albeit offering a few kind words for Uncle Tom along the way. Recovering Uncle Tom requires re-telling his story. This book delivers on that mission, while accomplishing something no other work on Harriet Beecher Stowe has fully attempted: an in-depth statement of her political thought. Heroeuvre, in partnership with that of her husband Calvin, constitutes a demonstration of the permanent necessity of moral and prudential judgment in human affairs. Moreover, it identifies the political conditions that can best guarantee conditions of decency. Her two disciplinesDphilosophy and poetryDilluminate the founding principles of the American republic and remedy defects in their realization that were evident in mid-nineteenth century. While slavery is not the only defect, its persistence and expansion indicate the overall shortcomings. In four of her chief works (Uncle Tom's Cabin,Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands,Dred, andOldtown 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. Further, she identifies the proper vehicle for educating citizens so they might reliably be ruled by decent public opinion. Book one, part one of Rethinking Uncle Tom explains Uncle Tom's Cabin within the context of the Stowes' joint project, an articulation of the conditions of democratic life and the appropriate nature of modern humanism. Book two, parts one and two, analyses how key elements of Calvin's thinking were conveyed by Stowe's works, while distinguishing her thought from his, and examines the importance of her 'political geography' and the breadth of her thinking on cultural, moral, and political matters. Parts three and four investigate the most mature elements of Stowe's political thought, providing a close reading of Sunny MemoriesDrevealing the full political purpose of that work, discerned through mastery of its complex symbolismDand of Oldtown Folks, which completes the development of Stowe's political thought by assessing three alternative regimes and by presenting a vision of anutopia: the ultimate life of decency and order which is proof against false dreams of rationalized life. Rethinking Uncle Tom provides readers both better familiarity with the moral discourse of abolition and nineteenth-century reformism, and, more importantly, a glimpse of an America envisioned as producing that nobility of soul that Uncle Tom represented, the human model of surpassing excellence.

Chapter 1 Preface
Part 2 Book I. The Ghostly Cry:Uncle Tom's Cabin
Part 3 Part I
Chapter 4 Chapter 1. The Question of Equality
Chapter 5 Chapter 2. The Real Alternatives
Chapter 6 Chapter 3. Standards of Humanity
Chapter 7 Chapter 4. Stowe's Own Introductions
Chapter 8 Chapter 5. A Little Wine and Brandy: The Narrative Begins
Chapter 9 Chapter 6. Patriarchy, Matriarchy, and other Myths of Slavery
Chapter 10 Chapter 7. The Birth of Uncle Tom
Chapter 11 Chapter 8. The Kinesis of Slavery and the Science of Natures
Chapter 12 Chapter 9. “What Country Have I?”
Chapter 13 Chapter 10. We Have No City
Chapter 14 Chapter 11. The Light of the Present
Chapter 15 Chapter 12. Myth Making and the End
Chapter 16 Chapter 13. An Unaccountable Prejudice
Chapter 17 Chapter 14. Triumph
Part 18 Part II
Chapter 19 Chapter 15. The Genealogy of Uncle Tom
Chapter 20 Chapter 16. Calvin's Ideas
Chapter 21 Chapter 17. The Central Problem: Slavery
Chapter 22 Chapter 18. The General Significance of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Part 23 Book II. Non-utopian Optimism: Harriet Stowe'sEvangelical Liberalism
Part 24 Part I
Chapter 25 Chapter 19. An American Campaign Abroad
Chapter 26 Chapter 20. A Cause Célèbre
Chapter 27 Chapter 21. Seasickness; or, The Way Things Really Look
Chapter 28 Chapter 22. The Scotland Campaign: A Beginning and End of Liberal History
Chapter 29 Chapter 23. The Practical Politics of the Matter
Chapter 30 Chapter 24. The Defense of Melodrama
Chapter 31 Chapter 25. Pre-utopian Reflections
Part 32 Part II
Chapter 33 Chapter 26. Anutopia
Chapter 34 Chapter 27. Coda–Was Harriet Stowe a Racist
Chapter 35 Chapter 28. Postscript