Harriet Beecher Stowe: The Little Lady Who Started the Civil War

By: Julie McDonald

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Harriet Beecher Stowe had seven brothers, all pastors, all staunch abolitionists who used their pulpits to condemn slavery. Harriet was just as passionate in her opposition to slavery as they were. What could she, a wife and mother of six children do? In 1850 her brother Edward's wife, Isabella, wrote her a letter challenging her; "Hatty, if I could use a pen as you can, I would write something that would make this whole nation feel what an accursed thing slavery is." Harriet accepted the challenge! With her words, she changed the way the world thought. By writing Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe changed American history. When President Abraham Lincoln invited her to the White House he took her hand and said, "So, this is the little lady who made this big war." Authors note: This short eBook, about a 30-45 minute read, begins with Harriet's early life growing up in Connecticut, her marriage to Calvin Stowe in Cincinnati, Ohio and the events that lead her to write the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

A good overview

This book provides a detailed overview of the life of the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Brief, but interesting

The virtual voice was distracting. The "voice" itself was not terrible, but the computer does not know proper pausing, intonation and inflection. The worst came at the end of the book when the voice was reading the birth and death dates of the family members. All of the dates were read as numbers! For example, the date 1836 was read, "One thousand eight hundred and thirty six", rather than the way we say dates as, "Eighteen thirty six". I was confused and didn't even understand why these numbers were being talked about at first. Once I clued in, I had to rewind. If I were an author and I listened, I would reject the use of the virtual voice being used with my work!