#8 Uncle Tom's Cabin

Reviewing classics gets a little tedious.  They have been read and analysed by so many people that any response I can come up with feels like a cliche.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" is important to the history of the United States.  It was written as a way to present abolitionist ideals to the masses.  The response to the release of the book was overwhelming.

I read "Uncle Tom's Cabin" because it helped spawn major social change when it was published. It gives a glimpse into the past.  A time when the United States legal sanctioned the kind of behavior that would get someone jailed for life now.  It was a very different time with justification for grotesque behavior sanctioned by not only the predominate culture, but also ironically, a government meant to free men from the horrors of tyranny.

These are the kinds of things that we have to look at as a culture and decide that they are not going to happen again.  We have to stay alert and attentive to keeping all men as free as we can while maintaining social structure.  Its a balancing act and the more we learn about the past, about when things were in balance and when they were our of balance, we can build a brighter, better future.