Uncle Tom's Cabin

In the nineteenth century, Uncle Tom's Cabin sold more copies than any book in the world except the Bible. It was quickly translated into thirty-seven languages and has never gone out of print. The book had far-reaching impact and deeply affected the national conscience of antebellum America. The Norton Critical Edition features the 1852 text, published in two volumes by John P. Jewett and Company, Boston; all original illustrations are included. Annotations assist with obscure historical terms and biblical allusions.

'Backgrounds and Contexts' includes historical documents related to slavery and abolitionism, such as Josiah Henson's 1849 slave narrative, Solomon Northup's 1841 slave auction account, Harriet Jacobs' life as a fifteen-year-old slave, and writings by William Wells Brown that document events in the novel. It also features excerpts from Stowe's Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, providing real-life basis for the story's characters and events, as well as accounts of Tom-Shows and responses to the novel's publication. Illustrative material includes slave advertisements, runaway slave posters, and original illustrations by George Cruikshank.

Criticism is divided into two sections: 'Nineteenth-Century Reviews and Reception', with critiques by notable authors, and 'Twentieth-Century Criticism', featuring essays by Baldwin, Tompkins, Levine, Spillers, and Zwarg. A Chronology of Stowe's life and work and a Selected Bibliography are also included.