The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher

"The Most Famous Man in America: the biography of Henry Ward Beecher" by DEBBY APPLEGATE *******GENERAL******* Without question, DEBBY APPLEGATE has tremendous depth as a biographer, but Applegate also has potential as an eminent historian. When I read her chapters, I was surprised at the depth of historical knowledge presented. The research is illuminative of all phases of the life of Henry Ward Beecher. Applegate connects Beecher to the people surrounding him, and to the American nation as a whole; but this book's real penetration is its coverage of American society leading up to the Civil War. In fact, her treatment of each member of the Beecher Family is rich, impressing upon us the importance of the Beecher family in the greater context of the fabric of the American nation. There are no indications in the cover or Introduction that inform us that Applegate has has this depth as an historian, in addition to being a good biographer. The characterization of the proverbial "Connecticut Yankee" takes on flesh in this thorough biography, because Applegate can write concerning the fullness of the human personality which transcends the superficial aspects of human character. Not every biographer can accomplish this, but we often wouldn't know it. One is seldom aware if a biographer fails to show you something. There is nothing pedestrian about Applegate's writing. This is a writer with a gift for making a human being almost transparent. *****SPECIFICS******** Applegate's biography comes at a time when popular authors mislead and confuse people with misinformation and extensive historical ommissions as to the character and nature of American religious figures of significance and the times in which they made significant contribution to the life of the American nation. Applgegate has the ability to show poignant contrasts in the Beecher family, but more importantly, Applegate elaborates the background of turmoil as the controversy of slaveholding begins to embroil the young nation, For example, the author makes clear the social situation at Amherst college and other American colleges, where idealistic young men and women who were pushed toward religious revival by the faculty, surprised society by including the liberation of black slaves as part of a step away from sin and toward salvation. This was an unpredictable outcome of ever-present evangelism efforts in American communities. Applegate accurately identifies this fervor as comparable to the campus activism of the 1960's. Furthermore, Applegate is not describing events as though they were occurrances separate from the actions of individuals, which is how textbooks often show events, as though they were disembodied from actual persons. Rather, Applegate is showing that historical and social trends are distinctly the product of specific individuals, and also that these events are the

I kept hearing about this book and reading about it. I saw it on the front cover of the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Everything I was reading and hearing seemed too good to be true. Usually I don't pay attention to reviews. But I finally bought the book, started reading it and simply couldn't put it down. It is perfect: the book teaches so much about 19th Century America but at the same time is a fascinating portrait of a great American hero who just about everybody has forgotten. What a gift to history and to readers to have this great book reintroducing this great American. Wowwwww!!!! I see why it took the author (they say) 20 years to write it. And I now see why reviewers are raving about it and some are predicting it might win the Pulitzer Prize!!!

Henry Ward Beecher was born to Lyman Beecher and the first of his three wives in Connecticut in 1813. The Beechers had a large family of 12 children. Henry as a middle child was not ticketed for stardom as were several of his older siblings. His sister Harriet Beecher would write Uncle Tom's Cabin and become rich and famous. Henry was a mediocre student graduating from Amherst. He reluctanly entered the ministry after giving up his boyhood dream to be a sailor. The most influential person is his life was his famed father the sober Calvinist preacher Lyman Beecher. Henry wed a difficult woman and his marriage was never smooth. The couple lost several children (including twins) to the childhood diseases so rampant in the nineteenth century. Henry served as pastor in Lawrenceburg Indiana; Cincinnati Ohio and most notably in Brooklyn. In Brooklyn at the Plymouth Congregational Church Henry became the best known preacher in America. He sent rifles to abolitionists in the South (called Beecher Bibles); auctioned off slaves from the chancel of the church to win their freedom; was involved in the Womens Rights movement and was beloved by his worshipful flock. Henry engaged in several extramarital affairs. He may have fathered an illegitimate daughter. Henry was vain, egotistical, luxury loving and a spendthrift often in debt. He loved to collect books, paintings and bric a brac. Beecher grew rich on his books, newspaper editorship and extensive lecture tours. He knew such famous people as Mark Twain and courted celebrity. Henry's most notorious affair came with the wife of Theodore Tilton a prominent member of the Plymouth Church. Though exonerated the long drawn out libel trail filed by Tilton against Beecher; the adverse publicity and the turmoil of the affair aged and weakened Beecher. Appleby's book is basically in three parts: 1. The early childhood and adolescence of Beecher as he grew to manhood in the brilliantly eccentric Beecher family. 2. The involvement of Henry in the antislavery movement. 3. The affair with Mrs. Tilton. There are mistakes! Davy Crockett was not from Ky! He hailed from Tennessee. Applegate probably confused him with Daniel Boone! Some of the writing is sloppy and needs editing. Much of the material dealing with the Civil War could be found in any good history book and adds nothing to a life of Beecher. Overall she has done a good job. The book was fascinating to me since I am a Presbyterian minister. Beecher? My verdict on him is mixed. He emphasized the love of Jesus Christ in the gospel though he renounced hell. Beecher was valuable in teaching people about the God of love rather than wrath as he renounced the stern Calvinism of his youth. His personal life was a mess. Anyone studying American religon and society in the Victorian era should add this worthy tome to their shelves.

Debby Applegate's "The Most Famous Man in America" is everything a biography should be. Henry Ward Beecher's life and career are chronologized without undue sentimentality and are described carefully within the context of his era, infused with references to parallel events and to the great figures of the 19th century. The author thus adds historical flavor without borrowing from a focus on her subject, who emerges in the end (in a 20th-century context) as an odd admixture of Billy Graham and Bill Clinton. Dr. Applegate (a graduate student-turned-professor of American studies at Yale) manages to accomplish even more in her book. Beecher at once appears as the book's subject, a historical figure of note, and as the lead character in a real-life drama that would be almost as stimulating if the book were fiction. It takes great writing skill to bring this off, and she succeeds in spades. Henry Ward Beecher was born 13 years into the 19th century and died 13 years before its end. He knew the heartache of early 19th-century life, losing his mother while a toddler and coping with the severity of his doctrinaire environment...his father being the Calvinist preacher Lyman Beecher. Hardly a brilliant student, Henry was quickly overshadowed by more gifted siblings, notably his older sister Harriet, who would later author the classic anti-slavery novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin." But Henry had a captivating personality and a right-brained intelligence, both of which stood out in his large family. He was a mimic and prankster who threw spitballs at his teacher. Even in a pre-Freudian era Beecher's behavior could be interpreted as a craving for love and attention. He somehow managed to graduate from Amherst without distinction (the author was summa cum laude at the same school) and from his father's own seminary in Cincinnati, which led to an early career as a Protestant minister in Indiana. From the beginning Henry Ward departed from Lyman's theology of original sin, emphasizing instead the power of God's love. Beecher's great skill was oratory. Throughout his pastoral career he was a lackluster administrator and (surprisingly, given his compassionate nature) lazy about visiting his flock to offer one-on-one spiritual care. But he was spellbinding in the pulpit, which in the mid-19th century became his key to success. The era was dominated by the debate over slavery and by men who rose to fame as stump speakers (Beecher's contemporary Abraham Lincoln being the best example among many). When Beecher left Indiana to serve the new Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, his gift for oratory and willingness to mix theology with politics (a daring act even today for any pastor) brought him immediate fame. Beecher was a magnetic figure whose career path happened to coincide with New York's strongest economic growth and with a national spiritual awakening. Eventually, Beecher's need for affection and approval compromised his legacy. Around 1870 he had an affair with a female

Debby Applegate's biography of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, "The Most Famous Man in America", has received nearly unanimous acclaim and an abundance of praise from reviewers. Much of it is well deserved. The book captivates, and the readers succumb to its thrall not because of the sheer writing ability of the author, but because of the charming, compassionate, extraordinary and powerful personality of the preacher. We could perhaps rightfully consider Henry Beecher (1813 - 1887) one of the earliest proponents of liberalism, if not the father of the modern Liberal Philosophy. He was an abolitionist who preached the gospel of love and the novel but much reviled concept of equality among men; and among men he regarded as friends were four staunch abolitionists- Lincoln, Emerson, Grant, and Mark Twain. His sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote the memorable "Uncle Tom's Cabin", was an abolitionist also. He preached that God was compassionate and loving, who readily forgave all our sins, and that life is meant to be a pleasurable, joyful experience. And he truly believed that seeking earthly pleasures was no bar to heaven, and that experiencing sensual pleasures was most certainly not sinful. Famous for his oratory and flashy clothes, he loved jewelry so much that he always carried a few unset gems with him. And like Imelda Marcos, he loved to shop. People from Manhattan flocked to his Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights to listen to his mesmerizing sermons. He had an eye for female beauties, a weakness for feminine charms, and a need for female companionship so great that he sought solace in the embrace of his female congregants, even though the congregants were married. The author has written about three such affairs, and as a result of one affair with a woman named Chloe, he might even have produced a daughter named Violet who bore a strong resemblance to him. The author implies that his wife, Eunice, nagged him at home, and as a result he sought solace away from his wife and home, in the company of married women. In 1874, at the age of 61, he was indicted and tried for having a "criminal conversation" (adulterous affair) with one of his congregants, Mrs. Elizabeth Tilton, wife of his best friend, Theodore Tilton. The jury was not persuaded, and so he was acquitted. After the trial, in his twilight years, Henry lost his prestige and much of his luster. Although he continued to preach and write articles for newspapers, he never regained his stature, and in 1887 he died of a broken heart at age 73. The author states that Henry Beecher's marriage was loveless. That raises an interesting question: If he could indeed produce twelve children in a loveless marriage, how many more would he have produced, had he truly loved his wife? Finally, I wish to say a few words about the author's prose. I am aware that I might sound like the lone voice in a choir that sings slightly off-pitch; but I must be truthful to myself and, like the Dixie Chicks