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This study of Uncle Tom's Cabin presents the complex social forces that have influenced the reading of the novel. Gossett examines Stowe's early life and the circumstances that transformed her into a major figure in the antislavery struggle. He describes the process of the composition of the novel; compares its reception in the North, the South and in England; examines the idyllic pictures of slavery in the "anti-Tom" novels of the l850s; and compares the novel with several of the popular stage adaptations. The author reveals how the novel has been reconstituted by every reading of it and how the readings have proceeded from different social agendas for resolving the race problems. He also covers the main ideas and characters of the novel, displays its dual character (it was instrumental in ending slavery but fostered new stereotypes of blacks), and illuminates the importance of racial themes in American cultural and political history. ISBN 0-87074-189-6: $29.95.