Includes bibliographical references (p. 495-503) and index.

No one predicted success for Henry Ward Beecher at his birth in 1813. The blithe, boisterous son of the last great Puritan minister, he seemed destined to be overshadowed by his brilliant siblings especially his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, who penned the centuryś bestselling book Uncle Tomś Cabin. But when pushed into the ministry, the charismatic Beecher found international fame by shedding his father Lyman's Old Testament style fire-and-brimstone theology and instead preaching a New Testament based gospel of unconditional love and healing, becoming one of the founding fathers of modern American Christianity.