Includes bibliographical references (pages xviii-xix).

Uncle Tom, Topsy, Sambo, Simon Legree, little Eva: their names are American bywords, and all of them are characters in Harriet Beecher Stowe's remarkable novel of the pre-Civil War South. Uncle Tom's Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment of slavery and for its presentation of Tom, "a man of humanity," as the first black hero in American fiction. Labeled racist and condescending by some contemporary critics, it remains a shocking, controversial, and powerful work -- exposing the attitudes of white nineteenth-century society toward "the peculiar institution" and documenting, in heartrending detail, the tragic breakup of black Kentucky families "sold down the river." An immediate international sensation, Uncle Tom's Cabin sold 300,000 copies in the first year, was translated into thirty-seven languages, and has never gone out of print: its political impact was immense, its emotional influence immeasurable. - Publisher.

Introduction -- Select bibliography -- Chronology -- Preface -- Volume I. The reader is introduced to a man of humanity -- The mother -- The husband and father -- An evening in Uncle Tom's cabin -- Showing the feelings of living property on changing owners -- Discovery -- The mother's struggle -- Eliza's escape -- It appears that a senator is but a man -- The property is carried off -- Property gets into an improper state of mind -- Select incident of lawful trade -- The Quaker settlement -- Evangeline -- Of Tom's new master, and various other matters -- Tom's mistress and her opinions -- The freeman's defence -- Miss Ophelia's experiences and opinions -- Volume II. Miss Ophelia's experiences and opinions, continued -- Topsy -- Kentuck -- The grass withereth, the flower fadeth -- Henrique -- Foreshadowings -- The little evangelist -- Death -- This is the last of earth -- Reunion -- The unprotected -- The slave warehouse -- The middle passage -- Dark places -- Cassy -- The quadroon's story -- The tokens -- Emmeline and Cassy -- Liberty -- The victory -- The stratagem -- The martyr -- The young master -- An authentic ghost story -- Results -- The liberator -- Concluding remarks.

Fiction , gift