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Greeted in her own time with vast popular acclaim in the Northern states--and with disdain by Southern slaveholding interests--Harriet Beecher Stowe remains widely known today. Yet, her reputation rests mainly on a single book--Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly (1852)--and, still more, on the role that book played in the antislavery agitation leading to the Civil War. The book remains controversial, but for different reasons than those originally raised. Some readers, including James Baldwin, have deplored Stowe's image of "Uncle Tom" for its influence in sanctioning racial stereotypes of docility and passivity demeaning to African Americans. Others have found artistic faults in the novel or disparaged its appeal to bourgeois sentiments and values. More recently, however, Stowe's work has drawn new respect from critics who appreciate its ability to highlight the power of feminine piety and redemptive love--and, above all, the saving force of maternity. Within the limits of her domestic feminism, Stowe dramatized the deep affinity between antislavery sentiment and the emerging women's movement.
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