Harriet Beecher Stowe was born into an intense family, ruled by its patriarch, her father, Lyman Beecher, a Puritanical preacher proud of his ability to make his audiences feel the flames of Hell as he spoke. According to Fritz, "He knew what everyone ought to be, and he made no bones about it." He also knew what people ought not to be, and women ought not to be preachers. He was trying to father as many Beecher preachers as possible, making the birth of any daughter a disappointment to him. In Fritz's analysis, Stowe spent much of her life trying to be the boy her father always wanted.

Lyman Beecher suffered "fits of depression," during which he would shovel sand in his basement from one side to the other, trying to work the melancholia out of himself. His depressions were sometimes so severe that...