Uncle Tom's Cabin

by Harriet Beecher Stowe

I'm amazed that it took as long as it did for me to get around to reading this book.

This book may not have been directly responsible for igniting the American civil war but it certainly fanned the flames. It eloquently (and at times verbosely) captures the mood of northern abolitionists by painting a believable and horrifying picture of what it meant to be a slave in the mid 19th century.

If you've never read this book, it probably isn't the book you think it is. The words "Uncle Tom" may have entered the American lexicon but they've come to mean something very different from what they mean to anyone who has read this book.

This is one of those books that everyone should read at least once in their lifetime.