Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Spiritual Life (Library of Religious Biography) Paperback – January 13, 2014

Get to know this amazing and influential woman and get a feel for such a turbulent time in US history, all in just 326 pages! (the rest are end notes, etc.) Well worth reading, we get to know Harriet Beecher Stowe, both the public side, from events in her life and from the several books she wrote, and the private side, from her thoughts expressed in letters and diaries. Koester's biography takes seriously Ms. Stowe's world view and explains her point of view, her theology, how it influenced her life and how it meshed or didn't with the then prevailing views -- all in very reader-friendly terms.Koester weaves Stowe's personal events and writings into the larger tapestry of US and world historical events. Stowe's writing and public campaigning against slavery made her both famous (and infamous) and influential in the mid and late 1800s. But she was more, so much more, than just an anti-slavery activist.Some surprising elements included trips to Europe, when and how Harriet spoke (or didn't), whom she met, whom she befriended on these trips; that she wrote for and what she wrote for the first edition of the Atlantic Monthly; what she thought of President Lincoln; what she thought of women's suffrage and its leaders; what other books she wrote; and her Florida connections.The life story, as told by Koester, moves along, propelled by events. But the author adds helpful insights and summaries throughout. The review on the back cover talks of "Nancy Koester's lucid narrative and penetrating analysis" -- that describes it perfectly.If I had any complaint it would only be that, after getting to know Ms. Stowe so well I would have liked a lengthy or extensive quote from her diary or letters, just to hear her talk at length, as we seemed, in the end, to know her so well, to have lived with her through so much. There are many shorter quotes and summaries of such writings throughout the book, however. Moreover, the book has extensive end notes (a true scholarly work, though very readable) and a brief five page index - neither of which distracted me while reading this compelling life story.

Nancy Koester brings a powerful heroine to life in this fascinating biography. All too often, women in the 19th century, even women who were prolific writers and correspondents, are described only by their domestic details and their theology and philosophy brushed aside. Many authors are drawn into the temptation to create a kind of charming picture of an unusual woman hoping that she will be remembered for her actions as opposed to her theories. Dr. Koester goes far deeper into the complex character of Harriet Beecher Stowe, describing her religious struggles, passions, doubts, theories and ultimate decisions. Anyone who wants to truly understand just how well-educated, intelligent, thoughtful and powerful a woman like Beecher Stowe could be should read this well-written bio.

On page 186, Koester refers to a remark made to Stowe by William Lloyd Garrison as a "cheap shot." It seems odd language for this type of book,and somewhat biased. Garrison appears to be responding to Stowe's determination that his approach would take away the slaves' Bibleand leave nothing in its place. Koester points to a contradiction in Garrison's reliance on conscience. She doesn't seem as troubled by Stowe'sinsistence that freed slaves should be Christian, the type of Christian that Stowe herself is, or that Stowe, a white woman, should be the one to make that decision. Whatever your opinion may be concerning the merits of Uncle Tom's Cabin, it seems impossible to deny that Stowe's goalwas the end of slavery. And I know of no one, who wasn't African American, who was more devoted to that cause than Garrison. It would have been nice to see a more balanced approach in that section of the book. Would slaves have only accepted freedom on Stowe's terms?Koester writes of Stowe's disappointment at the rupture that occurred between Garrison and Frederick Douglass. Stowe, according to Koester,thought that it was important to remain united for the cause. This passage presents Stowe as a champion of unity, but Koester doesn't seem toquestion Stowe's divisive problems with some of the other leaders of the Women's Movement.On page 279, Koester writes of the poet Lord Byron---"Byron had no regard for the true meaning of words." There are no quotation marksbordering the statement, but there is footnote annotation immediately after. My guess is that Koester is attributing the idea to Stowe, but I can't besure. That seems like an outlandish statement. On the same page, Koester writes that Stowe "from infancy was taught to revere the word, writtenor spoken."The part of the book that I find most objectionable is on page 284. Koester writes of Victoria Woodhull, [a famous figure in the Women's Movement],that she "had a checkered career." As evidence, Koester says that Woodhull had been a practitioner of magnetic healing, had married several times,was a spiritualist medium, had been set up, along with her sister Tennie, in the first women's brokerage firm on Wall Street by Cornelius Vanderbilt,and had, again with Tennie, run a newspaper so radical that it became the first to publish the Communist Manifesto in English. In addition, Koesterpoints out, Woodhull had been elected president of the American Association of Spiritualists, and had run for President of the United States.Koester leaves it to the reader to sort out the checkers. She refers to Woodhull as "the woman," and leaves the number of marriages at severalrather than give the number --- I think it was three. One other item that Koester mentions as evidence of Woodhull's "checkered past" is thatWoodhull's sister Tennie was "rumored to have been a prostitute." Could you use a rumor about an individual's sibling against that individual andsuggest that It is part of a "checkered past?" Koester doesn't refer to Stowe in the same derogatory manner, even though she points out thatStowe also became involved in spiritualism, and that her brother Henry, possibly the most powerful minister in the nation, was alleged to have hadan extramarital affair with at least one member of his congregation --- an allegation that more than one member of his own family believed to be true.