<i>Uncle Tom&rsquo;s Cabin</i> is one of the few books that can lay claim to having actually changed the world. Although the American anti-slavery movement had existed at least as long as the nation itself, Stowe&rsquo;s novel of 1852 galvanized public opinion as nothing had before. The book sold 10,000 copies in its first week and 300,000 in its first year. Its vivid dramatization of slavery&rsquo;s cruelties so aroused readers that it is said Abraham Lincoln told Stowe her work had been a catalyst for the Civil War.