Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The subject of this accessible and absorbing interpretive biography was perhaps the most famous American woman of the nineteenth century and by far the most famous member of a family of distinguished indeed, notorious clergymen and Christian educators. Naturally enough, then, the lens through which Koester illuminates her subject is that of the Christian life. Harriet Beecher (who married another clergyman, Calvin Stowe) remained seriously committed to living out the Christianity all the Beechers embraced. That meant dedication to her spouse and children and also advancing the progressive Christian causes women's education and suffrage, abolition, black civil rights. Chafing to do her part after 18 years of motherhood, Stowe recruited female relatives to help her so she had the time to write Uncle Tom's Cabin, the biggest American best-seller of the nineteenth century. It made her a celebrity overnight. She followed it with further novels, short stories, travel accounts (enabled by her fame), home-management advice books, and plenty of advocacy journalism. Meanwhile, she struggled mentally with the stringent Calvinism of her father a development relieved somewhat by her understanding that living out Christianity, including utter trust in Jesus, was more important than theology. Koester engagingly and intelligently discusses each major novel, each family crisis, each journey, and each spiritual change, including a fluctuating interest in spiritualism after the deaths of two of her sons, without a whiff of academic fustiness. A top-notch read.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2010 Booklist
Choice Review
This biography by Koester (Augsburg College) provides a well-versed, comprehensive account of the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe from her birth in 1811 until her death in 1896. Over the course of 18 illuminating chapters, readers uncover the minute workings of Stowe's spiritual growth, development, and transformation. Koester positions her highly engaging narrative around Stowe "as a Christian author who drew inspiration from her faith." Importantly, as she orients the biography around Christian faith as the central tenet of Stowe's life, Koester balances Stowe's literary and social work alongside concise reflections on her religious and spiritual changes. Critical to these transformations is Stowe's engagement with the dynamic social revolutions that occurred around the Atlantic World, especially with institutional slavery. This narrative will not necessarily surprise those familiar with literary, political, and religious history of the 19th century. However, Stowe's travels through spiritualism and Christian denominations should appeal to general and academic audiences, particularly undergraduate students and those interested in the peculiarities that molded an influential writer and commentator on the social life of this period. --Andrew R McKee, Florida State University