Uncle Tom's Cabin and Disease

For this weeks blog I listened to the podcast of historian David Reynolds and historian Charles C. Mann. I retrieved both podcasts from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History website. David Reynolds focuses his podcast on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Reynolds goes on to state that this novel was the most influential ever written in American history even though some historians might disagree. I wonder what historians he is referring to? Uncle Tom’s Cabin spread like wildfire as it was also turned into a play making the message of the novel more mobile and accessible. Uncle Tom’s Cabin created the uproar which started the Civil War. Lincoln himself even quoted to Stowe “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.” Reynolds begins with Stowe’s background highlighting how her Christian background created her drive for anti-slavery. He mentions how Stowe was even involved in the Underground Railroad. He didn’t list his sources of information. Her novel created sympathy in the north for slaves. Stowe cleverly crafted characters to love only to be torn away by the evils of slavery. The south responded by banning the book and dubbing Stowe a “fanatic”. It was a direct threat to their order. Reynolds finishes off by promoting his book which would give more exact details on the influence of Stowe’s novel.
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historians/podcasts/podcast.php?podcast_id=608

Mann podcasts about America before Columbus. He begins with the finding of his high school history book. Declaring that the majority of the information about the Americas before Columbus was wrong he begins the lecture. I wonder how the history books were wrong? Mann states that the number of natives was much greater than first believed. He then moves on to discuss how there were very few domestic able animals in the western hemisphere. This serves as important because the worst diseases begin as animal diseases which eventually break the human-animal barrier. He didn’t list any specific disease but he makes the point that the natives were not physically capable of fighting these diseases. Therefore he wishes to break the stereotype of Europeans being better fighters, or having greater technology, etc. Europeans were given the advantage when they brought foreign diseases. These diseases wiped out an estimated three quarters of the native population. Although I do feel Europeans did have an advantage for other reasons as well Mann gives his statement that they were able to colonize because they had the biological advantage. Therefore the Americas were not empty forests when first discovered, as often portrayed.
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historians/podcasts/podcast.php?podcast_id=529