Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp

by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mint Editions (Contribution by)

Overview

Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856) is a historical novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Although her career peaked with the publication of abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), Stowe continued to work as a professional writer throughout her life. A tale of greed, betrayal, and rebellion, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp displays her impressive imaginative range and admirable moral outlook while illuminating aspects of early American life that would otherwise be consigned to history. Nina Gordon is a young heiress who senses a change in southern plantation culture. Living in her family’s estate, she sees their land losing value through her brother’s drunkenness and aversion to work. Entrusting the plantation to Harry, one of their slaves, she attempts to maintain some normalcy by accepting suitors. She soon falls for Clayton, an idealistic young man who accepts the need for social change and disdains her brother’s cruel mistreatment of Harry. Outside of the estate, the Gordon family’s slaves live in fear of the state’s brutal slave laws alongside a family of poor whites. Despite the culture of silence holding them in place, they hear of a preacher named Dred, a maroon who leads a group of escaped slaves in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina. Is he a symbol of hope, or merely an illusion made up by greedy slavecatchers looking to collect bounties? As life on the Gordon plantation becomes more and more unbearable, the prospect of freedom seems worthy of any great risk. Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp is an underappreciated masterpiece from the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the most influential American novel of the nineteenth century. This edition of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp is a classic of American children’s literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781513133850
Publisher:	Mint Editions
Publication date:	02/15/2022
Series:	Mint Editions (Women Writers)
Pages:	570
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.44(d)

About the Author

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was an American author and abolitionist. Born into the influential Beecher family, a mainstay of New England progressive political life, Stowe was raised in a devoutly Calvinist household. Educated in the Classics at the Hartford Female Seminary, Stowe moved to Cincinnati in 1832 to join her recently relocated family. There, she participated in literary and abolitionist societies while witnessing the prejudice and violence faced by the city’s African American population, many of whom had fled north as escaped slaves. Living in Brunswick, Maine with her husband and children, Stowe supported the Underground Railroad while criticizing the recently passed Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. The following year, the first installment of Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in The National Era, a prominent abolitionist newspaper. Published in book form in 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was an immediate international success, serving as a crucial catalyst for the spread of abolitionist sentiment around the United States in the leadup to the Civil War. She spent the rest of her life between Florida and Connecticut working as a writer, editor, and activist for married women’s rights.

Date of Birth:

June 14, 1811

Date of Death:

July 1, 1896

Place of Birth:

Litchfield, Connecticut

Place of Death:

Hartford, Connecticut

Education:

Homeschooled

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Provides another opportunity for scholars and students to learn how Stowe craft[ed] a second and even more radical novel. . . . Represent[s] the literary, political, and ethical tensions and uncertainties of its time.—Resources for American Literary Study

A powerful novel mixing romance, slavery, and religion, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Dred was a bestseller in its day and a compelling extension of Stowe's critique of slavery. Robert Levine's superb edition of this important antebellum novel contains a fine introduction describing Stowe's development as a writer and antislavery advocate, the slavery controversy of the 1850s, and the prominent figures and themes of the novel. The text of Stowe's novel is illuminated by Levine's judicious and helpful explanatory notes.—Gregg Crane, University of Michigan

An excellent edition of an important book. Robert Levine's introduction provides essential historical information about Dred Scott, Denmark Vesey, Nat Turner, and John Brown and gives full credit to Harriet Beecher Stowe as a passionate, realistic political writer confronting the most volatile issue of her day.—Elizabeth Ammons, Tufts University

Inspired by a rare genius—rare in both intensity and in range of power.—George Eliot

Editorial Reviews

"An excellent edition of an important book."
Elizabeth Ammons, Tufts University

"Inspired by a rare genius--rare in both intensity and in range of power."
George Eliot

"A powerful novel and a compelling extension of Stowe's critique of slavery illuminated by Levine's judicious and helpful explanatory notes."
Gregg Crane, University of Michigan

From the Publisher