Uncle Tom, Topsy, Sambo, Simon Legree, little Eva: their names are American bywords, and all of them are characters in Harriet Beecher Stowe's remarkable novel of the pre-Civil War South. Uncle Tom's Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment of slavery and for its presentation of Tom, "a man of humanity," as the first black hero in American fiction. Labeled racist and condescending by some contemporary critics, it remains a shocking,...

"In the second volume of bestselling author Gerald N. Lund's explosive new series, the Eckhardt family finds that the turmoil in their lives will only increase as they try to move froward in a nation divided. Seargeant Hans Eckhardt has been discharged from his military service and wants nothing more than to start a new life with a career and a family, but the unrest swallowing his homeland seems determined to stop him. Suffering the devastating impact...