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by: Debby Applegate
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 285.8092
EAN: 9780385513968
ISBN: 0385513968
Label: Doubleday
Manufacturer: Doubleday
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 544
Publication Date: June 27, 2006
Publisher: Doubleday
Release Date: June 27, 2006
Sales Rank: 236166
Studio: Doubleday
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
No one predicted success for Henry Ward Beecher at his birth in 1813. The blithe, boisterous son of the last great Puritan minister, he seemed destined to be overshadowed by his brilliant siblings—especially his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, who penned the century’s bestselling book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. But when pushed into the ministry, the charismatic Beecher found international fame by shedding his father Lyman's Old Testament–style fire-and-brimstone theology and instead preaching a New Testament–based gospel of unconditional love and healing, becoming one of the founding fathers of modern American Christianity. By the 1850s, his spectacular sermons at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights had made him New York’s number one tourist attraction, so wildly popular that the ferries from Manhattan to Brooklyn were dubbed “Beecher Boats.”
Beecher inserted himself into nearly every important drama of the era—among them the antislavery and women’s suffrage movements, the rise of the entertainment industry and tabloid press, and controversies ranging from Darwinian evolution to presidential politics. He was notorious for his irreverent humor and melodramatic gestures, such as auctioning slaves to freedom in his pulpit and shipping rifles—nicknamed “Beecher’s Bibles”—to the antislavery resistance fighters in Kansas. Thinkers such as Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and Twain befriended—and sometimes parodied—him.
And then it all fell apart. In 1872 Beecher was accused by feminist firebrand Victoria Woodhull of adultery with one of his most pious parishioners. Suddenly the “Gospel of Love” seemed to rationalize a life of lust. The cuckolded husband brought charges of “criminal conversation” in a salacious trial that became the most widely covered event of the century, garnering more newspaper headlines than the entire Civil War. Beecher survived, but his reputation and his causes—from women’s rights to progressive evangelicalism—suffered devastating setbacks that echo to this day.
Featuring the page-turning suspense of a novel and dramatic new historical evidence, Debby Applegate has written the definitive biography of this captivating, mercurial, and sometimes infuriating figure. In our own time, when religion and politics are again colliding and adultery in high places still commands headlines, Beecher’s story sheds new light on the culture and conflicts of contemporary America.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - 6 Stars
This book came highly recommended by my parents. I had some books by David McCullough and John Hope Franklin that I was itching to read but my mom kept going on and on about Henry Ward Beecher. So I read The Most Famous Man in America. All I can say is WOW! The book is riveting, engrossing you in not only Beecher's life but in that of his family, 'girlfriends,' and contemporaries. I especially love chapters 8, 9, and 10 covering the time period from the Compromise of 1850 to the end of the Civil ... Read More
Rating: - An impressive psychological and historical tour
This book is not only a thorough exploration of a remarkable man, but a marvelous tour through 19th century America.
Recently, I asked two people in their 30's if they had ever heard of Henry Ward Beecher. They had not. They did recognize the name of his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe. How time erases celebrity! H.W. Beecher was deeply involved in the major issues of his times, was credited by both Lincoln and Robert E. Lee with determining the outcome of the Civil War and became involved ... Read More
Rating:  - Fascinating, but maddeningly uneven
Applegate's biography on Henry Ward Beecher is very readable, but too short. Some things are covered very well, and others almost ignored by comparison.
You learn alot about his relationship with his father and siblings, but very little about his wife and children. His thoughts and actions regarding slavery are well fleshed out, but I wish word one had been said about his opinions regarding other controversies of the time. What did Beecher make of Mormonism, for example? Applegate doesn't ... Read More
Rating: - An Evangelist is Still An Evangelist--Then and Now...
A remarkable read for its insight into the America of the 1850s and 1860s and into the America of the 2000s. The only real difference is that the Evangelists of 1850-60 are now tele-evangelists, still raising money, still getting involved in politics, and still dabbling in sins of the flesh to one degree or another. The more things change, the more they remaint the same.
A thoroughly fascinating read for the information it imparts about that time and the similarities to the times in which we live. ... Read More
Rating: - A Page Turning Epic about the life of a Teflon Preacher
This book was really great. You feel like you are alive at the time of Beecher. You watch as he emerges from his father's formidable shadow to become the most popular American preacher of his day.
But in the process, you will also see Beecher jettison virtually every doctrine of Christianity save the doctrine of love for God and for others. Unfortunately, it appears that Henry took the "love for others" part a bit too literally, as he was a very flirtatious and apparently adulterous man.
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