"When Abraham Lincoln first met Harriet Beecher Stowe in the 1860s he greeted her by saying "So this is the little lady who started this big war"--Referring to her wildly popular and influential novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, which had galvanized Northern opposition to slavery. He could have made similar comments about her brother, Henry Ward Beecher and, indeed, many of the eleven sons and daughters of the fiery Presbyterian minister and abolitionist, Lyman Beecher. In The Passionate Beechers, veteran journalist, biographer, and novelist Samuel Schreiner tells the true, larger-than-life story of the nineteenth century's most famous, influential, and controversial American family." "Revered by millions and reviled by millions more for their outspokenness, revolutionary thinking, and personal idiosyncracies, the Beechers seemed to be everywhere in American life. As Harriet's novels inspired the nation, Henry, Edward, Charles, and Thomas - all preachers - electrified their congregations with powerful sermons. Catharine crusaded for women's education, and James served as both commander and chaplain to his all-black regiment, the Thirty-fifth United States Colored Troops. The youngest daughter, Isabella, was a fiery leader of the women's suffrage movement and a spiritualist who received messages that she was related to Jesus and sent to rule the world. Virtually all of the Beechers were, like their father, accomplished writers whose ardent opinions were published in countless books, newspapers, and magazines - many of them published or edited by Beechers." "Like the Adamses before them and the Kennedys later on, the Beechers made a profound impact on American culture, an effect which can still be felt today. The Passionate Beechers tells the story of this exceptional family with an energy and enthusiasm worthy of the Beechers themselves."--Jacket.