Uncle Tom's Cabin

<p>The narrative drive of Stowe's classic novel is often overlooked in the heat of the controversies surrounding its anti-slavery sentiments.</p><p> </p><p>In fact it is a compelling adventure story with richly drawn characters and has earned a place in both literary and American history.</p><p> </p><p>Stowe's religious beliefs show up in the novel's final overarching theme-the exploration of the nature of Christianity and how Christian theology is fundamentally incompatible with slavery.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><em>Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe</em> was an American author and abolitionist whose novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) attacked the cruelty of slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play and became influential even in Britain.</p><p> </p><p>It made the political issues of the 1850s regarding slavery tangible to millions energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North. It angered and embittered the South.</p><p> </p><p>The impact is summed up in a commonly quoted statement apocryphally attributed to Abraham Lincoln. When he met Stowe it is claimed that he said So you're the little woman that started this great war!</p><p> </p>