Revisiting Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Today marks the 210th birthday of Harriet Beecher Stowe — the most important and influential woman in American history, by virtue of having written the most important and influential book in American history. Indeed, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was more influential in the 19th century than any other book written in that century. We should commemorate its landmark significance.

We should also read it. Despite its flaws, Uncle Tom’s Cabin remains a powerful contemporary testimony to the immorality of slavery in the United States, and a compelling piece of writing. It combines a novelist’s flair for storytelling with both political polemic and Christian evangelism. It was also the first American novel to feature African-American protagonists, and arguably the only lasting novel written during the time of slavery to do so. It is impossible to read Stowe’s book and not come away with a seething hatred of the entire institution of slavery.

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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Today marks the 210th birthday of Harriet Beecher Stowe — the most important and influential woman in American history, by virtue of having written the most important and influential book in American history. Indeed, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was more influential in the 19th century than any other book written in that century. We should commemorate its landmark significance.

We should also read it. Despite its flaws, Uncle Tom’s Cabin remains a powerful contemporary testimony to the immorality of slavery in the United States, and a compelling piece of writing. It combines a novelist’s flair for storytelling with both political polemic and Christian evangelism. It was also the first American novel to feature African-American protagonists, and arguably the only lasting novel written during the time of slavery to do so. It is impossible to read Stowe’s book and not come away with a seething hatred of the entire institution of slavery.