Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Obviously, I cannot review Uncle Tom's Cabin; it's a literary classic that almost everyone had heard of. The best I can do is offer a few comments.

I decided to read UTC because I'd never done so before, and it seemed like something an educator should have read. In case you haven't had the chance, the basics of the plot are this; readers follow the paths of two slaves from a single plantation who are to be sold to make up the owner's debts; Eliza, who runs away with her son after hearing that he is to be sold, and Uncle Tom, who is in fact sold to a trader.

Because it was written approximately 120 years ago, the language and writing style are what we would consider now to be extremely flowery and overdone, but the story itself transcends the language. At the time Stowe was hailed as being extremely anti-slavery, and her work was used to narrate the horrors of the practice long after its writing. Of course, with the benefit of over a century of time passing, her writing makes it obvious that her concepts of black people were still incredibly racist (although obviously still far ahead of her time), but when read in context this does not overcome the importance of the work as a landmark statement against a trade that had been in place for two hundred years. Her work as an abolitionist stirred millions in the north to stand up and cry out, and infuriated the southern plantation owners. She is widely credited for bringing an understanding of the horrors of slavery to millions of people, and with providing crucial ammunition to the anti-slavery feelings of the country.

I'll be honest; at times, it was a slow read, and at almost 500 pages it took me quite awhile to get through it. Skimming some of the more flowery descriptions made the going easier. Regardless of the work it took to get through it - this is obviously not vacation reading - I would still recommend that anyone take the time to at least peruse the work and get the general feel for the story. It's an important part of American history in and of itself.