Few books can truly be said to have altered the course of history, and even fewer can be said to have started an entire war. Uncle Tom"s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was one such novel. It is a realistic, although fictional view of slavery, that burned into the consciousness of America the images of brutal beatings and unfair slave practices. Uncle Tom"s Cabin helped to turn the tide of public opinion against slavery in the 19th century. This controversial novel was initially written to question slavery and to convince people of its immorality. It was the first book...
many that the book affected English readers so much that they decided not to join our civil war on the Confederate side or even recognize the Confederate states as a nation. Since European readers were so far away from slavery, they listened to Mrs. Stowe without question because she, as an American, was an expert on the issue of slavery. Abraham Lincoln met Stowe during the war and reportedly called her, the woman who wrote the book that started this great war. Truly her shocking exposure of the underbelly of the peculiar institution helped to precipitate the Civil War.