Omar's Reviews > The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher

I lost interest in this book after about 100 pages but kept reading because it had come highly recommended to me by a friend. I made it to page 268 before I just simply gave up. The life of Henry Ward Beecher was interesting at points, but the book seemed to lack cohesion. At 268 pages I decided to skip ahead to the chapter dealing with his affair with Elizabeth Tilton, but I lost interest in him as a person by that point- so I found myself not caring about it.

Applegate's narrative was hard to follow at times. A glossary of names would have been helpful in keeping all of the names straight (something most biographers should consider). Applegate's largest problem, however, is her caricatures of Reformed Theology. These caricatures were most prevalent in the early chapters of the book when she dealt with Henry's father Lyman Beecher. Had this book been shorter and more balanced in it's presentation of Reformed Theology I would probably have finished it