Uncle Tom's Cabin

By: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Narrated by: Mirron Willis

Length: 22 hrs

Publisher's summary

Uncle Tom is a high-minded, devoutly Christian black slave to a kind family, the Shelbys. But beset by financial difficulties, the Shelbys sell Tom to a slave trader. Young George Shelby promises to someday redeem him. The story relates Uncle Tom's trials, suffering, and religious fortitude.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment of slavery and for its presentation of Tom, "a man of humanity", as the first black hero in American fiction. It became an overnight sensation and remains a shocking, controversial, and powerful work, exposing the attitudes of white 19th-century society toward slavery and documenting, in heart-rending detail, the tragic breakup of black families.

Public Domain (P)2009 Blackstone Audio

Critic reviews

" Uncle Tom's Cabin is the most powerful and enduring work of art ever written about American slavery." (Alfred Kazin, American writer and award-winning literary critic)
"One of the greatest productions of the human mind." (Tolstoy)

Stunning multivoice reading

The variety and emotion of the reader's presentation captured my mind, my emotion, my heart and my imagination. I felt the darkness of the low points as well as the soaring high morality of the noble characters. Freedom-loving humanitarians are not fully educated until they have heard this classic.

Amazing!

Amazing perspective on the greatest evil this country ever has condoned. At the same time a harrowing tale of faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and a call to all of us truly be Christian.

The beginning of the end of slavery

A very moving story about the brutality of slavery that is credited with leading to the Civil War and emancipation. I struggled with the character of Uncle Tom though. I can see Uncle Tom symbolizing the failing to stand up to oppressors that he has come to be known for, but I also see a man of faith holding on to his pious beliefs struggling to live an honorable life. The author's impassioned call for action in the final chapter for the dismantling of the institution of slavery definitely foretold the pending tide of change that lead to the Civil War.

The Book That Made Queen Elizabeth Cry...

This is a work of historic significance, it should not have been forgotten , it should not have been band from schools. I find it shameful what was done back then.

Excellent Reader

Having read this book numerous times I wanted to find a reader worthy of the book. I was not disappointed!!!

Contemporary story

'Uncle Tom's Cabin' is a story about the appropriation of human labor. The means have changed, and to some extent the locale, but we are still doing this to one another. Chapter 19, St. Clare's and Miss Ophelia's conversation contrasting slavery in the US and industrial servitude in Britain, raises issues as relevant today as they were 150 years ago.

Mirron Willis' reading is wonderful. He brings the characters to life. Stowe's story telling is vivid and the theater Willis creates is exciting.

A call to repentance.

I won't hide the fact that it was difficult to begin this story, but it did grip my mind and heart before the end.
If you're debating whether to get this book or not, get it. Listen to it. You won't regret it.

An emotional beating, but worth it

This is a book you have to be prepared to read and committed to get through. But what a literary triumph! I've been curious about Uncle Tom's Cabin ever since high school when it was a selection in my American Literature class (I'm not sure they even have this topic anymore.) Boy am I glad I didn't pick it way back then as the story would have been totally lost on me as a teenager.

I decided to read the book once and for all as an adult after finishing another famous tome, Gone with the Wind, because I wanted a less romanticized account of slavery. In addition to presenting the gritty realities of slavery from numerous vantage points, one of the things I enjoyed about the book is how the author presented the moral conundrum that slavery presented for slave owners, regardless of how "humane" their treatment of their "property."

I enjoyed the narration but noticed other reviewers found it horrible. Being limited in my personal knowledge of regional and especially Southern accents I cannot comment on the accuracy of the dialects presented. All I know is that I felt the narrator brought the story and its characters to life, especially the tortured Cassie who I felt embodied the fearless and everlasting spirit of women everywhere.

This is the version to get!

If you're debating on which version to get, this is THE one! Mirron Willis is, by far, the best narrator I've EVER heard.

Absolutely riveting story! Narration was amazing!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Uncle Tom's Cabin?

When George Harris and his wife were reunited with their family.

Have you listened to any of Mirron Willis’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I am speechless. Mirron makes me feel like I am there in the story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I could have, yes!