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Today, few remember Henry Ward Beecher. But Debby Applegate's lively biography of the 19th-century Congregationalist preacher explains why she titled it The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher.
According to Applegate, Beecher's life, with its triumphs, struggles, public acclaim, private sexual temptations and scandal, created a pattern followed by other Americans such as JFK, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bill Clinton.
Henry Ward Beecher's last name may ring a bell. He was the little brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Connecticut-reared siblings belonged to one of the most creative and intellectual clans in American history.
Beecher is an important figure in his own right. In theology, Beecher helped shift the focus from the threatening God of his Puritan childhood to the idea of a forgiving God of love. He was a vital figure in the anti-slavery movement, less a firebrand than an orator who made Northern whites identify with the struggle of the slave.
And the world-famous preacher and writer was embroiled in a sex scandal and subsequent trial that rivaled the Monica Lewinsky spectacle in public fascination. Indeed, with his charisma, his empathetic, emotional oratory and his just-folks persona, Beecher comes across as a 19th-century Clinton.
Begun as a project at Amherst, Beecher's and Applegate's alma mater, this biography has been in the works for two decades. That shows both in its sometimes excessive detail and in its marvelous perspective. Applegate conveys why non-academics should bother about this forgotten theologian by comparing Beecher's time and our own on many levels.
And throughout history, people have been obsessed with lust and hypocrisy. His critics pounced upon Beecher and his "gospel of love" when it was charged that the preacher was doing far more than just minister to his female flock.
Applegate makes it clear that Beecher almost definitely was sexually involved with women other than Eunice, the ignored mother of his 10 children. Although there is no DNA proof, the biographer makes a good case that Beecher fathered a daughter out of wedlock. She also gives a psychologically convincing reason for his insatiable need for female attention. Beecher lost his mother at age 3 to tuberculosis. Reared among brilliant, well-educated sisters, he craved this type of woman his whole life.
The fat hit the fire when a cuckolded husband sued Beecher for seducing his wife. A six-month trial followed, ending in deadlock. Though Beecher's career survived, the scandal stained his reputation.
Beecher made important contributions to American society. But it was this drama of desire and betrayal that puts a human face on The Most Famous Man in America.
The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher
By Debby Applegate
Doubleday, 528 pp., $27.95
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