Staff Pick
This novel must be read in the context of its own time. Looking at the book with present-day eyes, it seems to contain not characters but caricatures. The characters in this book became larger than life over time, and a series of emotions attach to them that were not intended in the beginning. Beautiful and poignant, Uncle Tom's Cabin changed history. Upon meeting the author, Abraham Lincoln said, "So you're the little lady who wrote the book that made this great war." She replied, "I did not write it. God wrote it. I merely did his dictation." While most of the book is painful to read, it is a sprawling story full of amazing characters and horrific events. It is a "slice of life" that we, as modern readers, can never truly understand, but it is well worth the uncomfortable reading in order to honor those who lived it. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Arguably the most influential novel in American history, Uncle Tom's Cabin fanned the embers of the struggle between free states and slave states into the fire of the Civil War-and is as powerful and relevant today as when it was first published a century and a half ago.