O'Loughlin examines the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. He reviews elements of the critical and publication history of Uncle Tom's Cabin in order to examine the novel's place within American culture. Some scholars see the novel as having played an essential role in the lead-up to the Civil War, while others view it as having had a minor historical impact at best. He argues that Uncle Tom's Cabin, as a widely read, culturally available narrative became an important text for understanding why the Civil War began. To support that point, he discusses Abraham Lincoln and his second Inaugural Address. He notes that the most important historical effect of Uncle Tom's Cabin did not have to do with causing the war but with explaining it.