The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate
January is cold in Iowa, which is a great time to grab a new book. In 2008, I began the New Year by reading the book, The Most Famous Man in America. Debby Applegate’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book remains one of the finest and most interesting biographies I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Henry Ward Beecher, the 19th-century minister who substantially transformed Christianity from fire and brimstone to the revolutionary idea that God is a God of love. Beecher’s life, from his wisdom to his devastating setbacks, is as relevant today as it was in the 18 hundreds.
Henry Ward Beecher’s sister was Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote the classic Uncle Tom’s Cabin. There are chapters on Henry and Harriet as they grow up and develop their intellectual and ethical values. Experiencing their questioning and faithful commitments helps the reader define one’s own value system.
The reader has a ringside seat as Henry Ward Beecher, at the top of his pastoral career, struggles with church squabbles and ethical responses to national injustices. In a biography that reads like a novel, you will also feel the excitement and anxiety of urbanizing the Western expansion by the wave of business, religious, and other leaders. You will be sitting on the Beecher family’s shoulders as they struggle with their faith, ethics, and values as the nation changes at an ever-faster pace. We can learn from their example, as we too struggle to face a changing world. I hope you are entertained and challenged as much as I was.