There are books that are revered because of their effect on art, and there are books that are remarkable because they literally change the very society from which they came. Here is a list of ten books that radically changed or shaped American society. I’ve excluded all religious texts because those are just too obvious. So without further delay, here’s the list!
This 1855 book of poetry ushered in the American equivalent of the Romantic Era of literature. Whitman’s brilliant work changed art, and changed what could be discussed in art with his bold and bawdy epic poem. This work was both subversive and celebratory, that opened the door for discussion of many issues, and also was the work that opened the beat movement that followed nearly a century later. [Read the full text online]
Unfortunately, not every book has a good influence on society. This 1905 book made the KKK out to be heroes, and lead to a disgraceful anti-black film (the Birth of a Nation) that was quoted by then President Woodrow Wilson as being, “Sad because it’s true.” This was the racist answer to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” and this book was a best seller that eventually led to support for the Jim Crow laws. Sad and sick, but influential all the same. [Read the full text online]
This novel, which won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, was a stunning and powerful novel. This fictional book was based on the real life plight of the poor Midwestern farmers who went into California looking for work, and ended up in slave conditions and tragedy. This book was extremely controversial, and hated in California, but invoked such an outrage that Congress actually passed legislation to help the migrants and their families. This never would have happened without this book, which remains a classic to this day.
The full title of this book is “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”. This autobiography of Frederick Douglass was printed in 1845 and really opened people’s eyes not only because of the intriguing title, but because Douglass’s exceptional prose, poetic fables, and great writing skill showed what a former slave could aspire to. With this beautiful writing, others realized that the point of view Douglass has was valid, and the fable referring to slavery was too hard to miss. [Read the full text online]
This simple yet powerful book caught the attention of millions and was the cry against the loss of our environmental treasures that finally forced Congress to listen and spawned the modern environmental movement. This book caused DDT to be made illegal, and helped save the Bald Eagle, among hundreds and hundreds of other animals.
This novel by Richard Wright was incredible, and shocked the entire nation by making a seemingly vicious black man (and a murderer) a hero, or at least an anti-hero. Bigger Thomas was the epitome of an angry black man, pushed too far not only by a society that hated him because of the color of the skin, but by the self-loathing he felt as a result and by even the white Socialists who thought they understood, but did not. This violent and startling story brought to attention the savage inequalities and racism in America, and helped lay part of the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement.
This 1792 work was a passionate manifesto, and this work’s effect caused Wollstonecraft to be considered the mother of modern feminism. This was the first major literary assertion of women’s rights, and started the ball rolling on every major breakthrough to follow. [Read the full text online]
Hot dog, anyone? This novel was meant to be about not only the meat packing plant, but also about the terrible conditions of poverty that immigrants and low wage workers dealt with in the cities. This novel shocked the nation, and the understanding that humans who fell in the vat simply ended up in hot dogs . . . well apparently that’s more important than poverty. Nonetheless, this caused several acts to be passed by congress in dealing with both employment laws and with meat packing and food and safety standards. Many of these laws are still in effect even today. [Read the full text online]
This was almost number one, but even at 2, no one can argue that this was one of the most influential books in American history. Not only was this the first book to sell a million copies, and inflamed the issue of slavery to the point where there was no way to ignore it any longer. When author Harriet Beecher Stowe met President Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln was quoted as saying: “So you’re the little woman who started this great war.” Whether the quote is true or not, it shows the effect she had on society. [Read the full text online]
It’s almost impossible to argue with this one at the top. The fiery yet intelligent public indictment of monarchy and demanding freedom may have been the single biggest fuse that lead to wide spread support of the Revolutionary War. Many historians think of Paine’s book as the ember that sparked the blaze. Over 100,000 copies were sold in the first few months, and before “Common Sense” became widely read, most colonists didn’t give a crap about breaking away from Great Britain, so the book that helped create America is the one that gets the number one spot. [Read the full text online]
Contributor: Shane Dayton
Never heard of any of them…although now i do fancy a hot dog
cool
boomshine87: preferably not made with human flesh
jfrater: that synopsis sort of reminded me of a scene from Saw III, with the pigs etc…
#6 is responsible for a lot of deaths. It turns out DDT is NOT harmful to humans. In fact, the only reason it was harming birds is becayse of how much they used. It doesn’t take very much of it to be effective. Instead, we use more harmful chemicals that are less effective as insecticides. Its fine for America, but we enforce our policy on countries like Haiti and African nations. Because of the US and its knee-jerk reaction to that book, Malaria is once again an epidemic in the third world. But at least those precious birds are okay.
(note: I spent a lot of time in Haiti and Indonesia and have seen first hand how bad the malaria problem is. This is one of my big soap-boxes.)
Good list, though like you said, not all had a POSITIVE influence.
Absolutely right Thor! The only thing I'd add is DDT caused MILLIONS of deaths, and Carson herself felt remorse for the tragedy that was Silent Spring.. All for a few species of birds. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Kinda missed the REAL impact there Jamie!
uncle toms cabin so wild
Haven’t read most of these (Still kicking myself for not reading Grapes of Wrath yet). The only one I have read was Native Son, and I honestly did not care for it. The whole scene with his buddy in the movie theater (if you’ve read the book, you’ll know what I mean) kinda soured the experience for me.
Nice list Jamie. Makes me want to go read some books. I have heard of many of these, but not actually read them. Some I have wanted to read for a while now.
P.S. There is a typo in Number 1. “Over 100,000 copies were solid in the first few months” I think solid should be sold.
ugggh, grapes of wrath. i had to read it in 11th grade. there is an entire chapter about a turtle crossing the road. i have no opinion on it’s literary merit as my memory from that perspective clouds the issue. maybe it is a classic, but steinbeck, for the love, get the turtle across the road already.
Shane:
Marvelous list… as a one-time proto-English-prof, it made me smile. Well done. Particularly pleased with the choice of “Leaves of Grass.”
Off the top of my head right now I can’t think of a single omission. Maybe “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison, but I think “Native Son” is the more important book in that regard.
Nice job!
Good list. Have read 60% of the list. I’d add Upton Sinclair’s OIL! (Teapot Dome Scandal/Sinclair Oil) and Ralph Nader’s UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED(changed America’s view towards automobile safety) to the discussion.
I’ve only ever read The Grapes of Wrath, and the only thing that really stuck with me was bunnies. How sad.
AmazingThor:
Sorry, but you’re going WAY overboard, saying that DDT is *not* harmful to humans. There is a lot of inconclusiveness on this issue, and a big difference in regards to chronic exposure. Yes, worse pesticides were used since… but that doesn’t mean we can discount the damage DDT did. You certainly can’t go around claiming that it isn’t harmful. The evidence is to the contrary.
What isn’t as well-established is how harmful it IS. But don’t dismiss it.
My father was a combat pilot in WWII. After the war he started an aviation business–building planes, training other people to fly, doing aerial photography and surveying—and cropdusting. This was all from about 1947 – 1962. He was using DDT all those years, and there were few safety precautions taken then that we today would consider adequate. Most of these cropdusters were just breathing the stuff in.
My father died of pancreatic cancer in 1965… there was no history of cancer in my family before then and there has been none since. We have always assumed (though admittedly we have only circumstantial evidence for this, since medical technology back then wasn’t what it is today) that the DDT was responsible. And frankly, there is no other cause that could be considered–my father wasn’t a smoker and certainly was not an alcoholic (occasionally a cause of pancreatic cancer).
I realize this is strictly anecdotal, but every doctor I’ve ever spoken to has agreed with me on this–given the lack of other causes and the strange uniqueness of the cancer (in terms of family history) and given what we know about DDT—it’s likely it was the cause.
I’m open-minded about it, but I also know the evidence, and the evidence still points to DDT being a danger. And there is my father’s example to lend weight to that.
I’ve always thought it ironic that he survived being shot at by the Japanese constantly, risking his life flying missions in the Pacific, being in danger nearly every day—to only be killed, in the end, by the dust he was spreading on fields of crops.
DiscHuker: If you found Grapes of Wrath boring, I strongly advise you to keep well away from Proust
JwJwBean: thanks for the correction
I have now modified the entry.
Shane: Excellent list and choice of #1 (though I’m sure that ListVersers will offer up many alternatives).
Paine’s Common Sense is not an easy read for many of school age (they were not the ‘target market’ of Mr. Paine), and if it were to be taught in school, I’m sure that people would react like DiscHuker (ugggh) – Damn shame.
Of course, we can’t make it mandatory for adults to read…
ps. Didn’t read Native Son or Vindication… off to Amazon.
An interesting thing I realized while formatting this list was that as a New Zealander, I can’t think of a single book that can be said to have changed New Zealand. I wonder why there are so many that changed the face of the US when the same is not true of other nations of similar (give or take 100 years) ages. Anyone got a theory? Or – better yet – can anyone tell me a book that DID change the face of New Zealand? I am sure that J Coustark must know of at least one.
stevenh: you are right about the age group – but you probably could make it required reading at a university level – it would probably be a damned sight better than some of the trash taught in Universities these days.
A Peoples History Of The United States by Howard Zinn would be a worthy inclusion to this list.
didn’t grandmaster flash have a song about the jungle?
“don’t push me ‘cuz i’m close to the edge. i’m tryin’ not to lose my head. uh, huh, huh, huh, huh. it’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me kinda wonder how i keep from going under.”
randall: thank you for your father’s service to our country.
I’m very happy to see T. Paine at the top, good list.
Lord of the Rings changed where tourist to New Zealand want to go.
jfrater: I disagree. I am omly 14 years old and I have read “The Jungle” and completely understood it. I did, however, find that some information I should not have been informed of, because I did not eat a hotdog for about 2 months after reading that.
Brian: People’s History was influential as a frequently used text book, but by the same logic so was Fun with Dick and Jane”
http://www.tagnwag.com/
Bass: I would think you are probably the exception though – how many other 14 year olds do you know who have read it? Probably none
DanOhh: heh it was the movie adaptation that did not – not the book itself
stevenh: speaking of Fun with Dick and Jane, did you see item number 3 on this list:
http://listverse.com/bizarre/top-10-most-bizarre-videos/
jeff at #11 makes a good point. without nader’s “unsafe at any speed” we wouldn’t have seatbelt laws. that’s pretty fundamental.
Common SenseThomas Paine, 1776
I think Maybe this book should be read again by the people so we could take a look at what is happen no and maybe we could do somthing about what is happening to us in america!!!!!!!!
jfrater:
I think this easy to answer (your question about why no books changed New Zealand).
A) New Zealand is a relatively small island country, only settled by Europeans towards the end of the 18th century and only *practically* settled and dominated by said Europeans by the middle/end of the 19th century. Your ancestors, therefore, had their hands full “taming” the island and its Maori inhabitants, etc. for a big chunk of the last 200 years. Whereas the Eastern seaboard of the US was well established by the late 17th century, and expansion followed from there relatively quickly. We crossed this continent in record time because of the vast infusion of immigrants who went westward and further westward… meanwhile, all that time, the literary tradition of America was well on its way in the East and then followed the settlers westward. Time then, is a big factor.
B) New Zealand remained under the dominion of the British crown for much of its history (what exactly IS its status now?) meaning that in essence the literary tradition of Britain and Australia/New Zealand were more tied together…. whereas America had split with Britain both politically AND culturally in the late 18th century. We were able to grow our own literary tradition as a result.
C) America was more fiercely independent (obviously, since we rebelled and got away with it) and this exciting, energetic cultural/political force (in starting a new nation and democracy as an experiment) led to an explosive artistic “newness” in America. Not all of which was successful… but literature began to finally stand out.
I agree with Common Sense. I have read it personally, and I think it is the all-American book. As was said, it fired Americans into breaking with Britain. That means it basically created America.
I agree with Common Sense. I have read it personally.
jfrader:
I did miss that video, very weird.
Thanks, I think
Wollstonecraft (mother of the famouse Mary Shelley, wife of the poet Percy Bysshe and writer of Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus) was British, wasn’t she? Of course, that doesn’t preclude the book “changing” America, but one would expect American books on the list primarily.
Also, Whitman sucks big time. The only way he changed America was by teaching people to call poor prose poetry. You can thank Whitman, to some extent, for Pound, cummings, a lot of Eliot’s work, and pretty much everything bad in American poetry up to and including the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets (idiotic, pretentious name, that–fitting for their “poetry”).
Randall: wow – I do believe you answered my question perfectly! Thanks for the insight – you are most likely correct. As for New Zealand’s status now:
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. It has no written constitution and is one of two nations in the world that has two official anthems: God Save the Queen, and God Defend New Zealand. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of New Zealand and has the power to dissolve parliament. It is also the only country in the world in which ALL of the highest offices of the land have been held by women simultaneously: The Queen, the Governor General, the Prime Minister, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Chief Justice.
More than you needed to know I am sure
Brian: I agree with Stevenh, too few people have read “A Peoples History” for it to be on this list. I only read it because I had to for an AP American history course in high school.
Bob:
Excuse me… but A) Whitman, for all his technical failings, is an extremely important figure in American literature, even if at times he did write crap. B) ee cummings, I grant, truly sucks.. but Pound? Hardly. Far from perfect, but at times brilliant… though despicable for his politics… and Eliot? Are you trying to tell me that you place TS Eliot on a par with Whitman and ee cummings? Are you out of your freakin’ mind?
TS Eliot… author of “The Waste Land.” Of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” You’re bashing THAT Eliot? And not to mention one of the greatest literary *critics* of the 20th century, Eliot.
Please.
I agree with you in regards to despising the low and bad and worse, middlebrow, in American poetry… but flailing around at targets that are above that—Pound and above all else Eliot–is just silly. Come now.
jfrater:
There’s rarely too much to know.
But a nation ruled exclusively by women… I shiver.
boomshine87: did you go to school? do you get out? i mean seriously, you’ve never heard of any of them? wow. all i can say is wow.
jfrater-
I don’t know about books that changed NZ, but I think the movie Once Were Warriors may have had some effect. It certainly helped to enlighten my American misconceptions about your fair isles.
Silent Spring did have a profound impact, but not in a good way. It lead to the banning of a safe chemical that could save thousands of human lives from malaira. The worst part is that in controlled experiments research showed that DDT had no impact on the birds reproduction or overall health. DDT is safe and should never have been banned.
Grumpus: Actually Once Were Warriors did start off as a book – and I shudder to think what impression it gave you of New Zealand! It certainly does not depict a New Zealand I have ever seen (aside from some of the lovely scenery of course). Having said that – it didn’t influence anything in NZ
rodeograndma:
Wrong. DDT has NOT been shown to be “safe.” Please read my post above (#13).
No one has ever established that DDT is “safe.”
Great List; I am woefully inadequate, haven’t read near enough of these.
Randall; Depends on the women. There’s a few I can think of that make me cringe too.
You think “Profiles in Courage” ought to be up there? If anything, I think it elevated JFK to a higher level above the senatorial fray, which subsequently led to his election to the White House and eventual assasination, which killed the age of innocence with it.
jfrater-
Being American, we never learned much about the make-up of the people of New Zealand (the different native groups, the English, etc.) We mostly thought of you guys as Australia’s quaint little cousin (ignorant view, I know). I thought Warriors, accurate or not, at least opened up a little more of that area of the world. I also found interesting parallels with America’s own struggles with class, ethnic background, etc. That movie didn’t leave me with any bad impressions of New Zealand, it just made it a more real place (once again, ignorant, but you guys are directly through the globe from us). As a side note, now that I sell wine, I mostly know NZ, and especially the Marlbourough area, as one of the best producers of sauvignon blanc in the world.
“DDT is safe” -
DDT is neither safe nor dangerous.
When it was over-used in the USA, it became an environmental problem, persisting in the food chain.
Because it is under-used in malaria zones, people die.
It was probably a mistake (typical gov’t knee-jerk reaction) to ban rather than regulate the stuff, but to say it’s safe is a swing in the wrong direction.
There are a huge amount of toxins that we produce and add to the environment. To ban them all would be as detrimental as allowing (in a non-regulated way) them all.
The libertarian in me finds this needed regulation sad. The parent in me wants a planet that can survive.
Flight of the Conchords made me
jayfray: your description of the NZ government reminded me of a movie scene…
King Arthur: How do you do, good lady? I am Arthur, King of the Britons. Whose castle is that?
Woman: King of the who?
King Arthur: King of the Britons.
Woman: Who are the Britons?
King Arthur: Well, we all are. We are all Britons. And I am your king.
Woman: I didn’t know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective.
Dennis: You’rw foolin’ yourself! We’re living in a dictatorship. A self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working class…
Woman: Oh, there you go bringing class into it again.
Dennis: Well, that’s what it’s all about! If only people would…
King Arthur: Please, please, good people, I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?
Woman: No one lives there.
King Arthur: Then who is your lord?
Woman: We don’t have a lord.
Dennis: I told you, we’re an anarco-sydicalist commune. We take it in turns to be a sort of executive officer for the week…
King Arthur: Yes…
Dennis: …but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting…
King Arthur: Yes I see…
Dennis: …by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs…
King Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis: …but by a two thirds majority in the case of…
King Arthur: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!
Grumpus: I think that Once Were Warriors depicts a tiny aspect of NZ society – NZ has only 3% unemployment and a very generous (far too much so in my opinion) social welfare system, so poverty is not really an issue there. As for wine – you are right indeed about the best Sauvignon coming from NZ
You should also try Hawkes Bay Sauvignon Blanc – it is also extremely good. Lots of good reds too.
The library still beckons…
One of these days!
Dischuker: haha – what film is that from? I like it
Interesting List. I have not read Common Sense or Vindication although they are on my list.
Vindication was written in 1792 and women still didn’t have the right to vote until what, 1929?
jfrater-
Hawkes is good, but I prefer Villa Maria (why it has a Spanish name, I’ll never know). We don’t get too many of your reds here, but I’ll see if I can find some. Thanks to you, I now have a more complete picture of NZ outside of Peter Jackson, OMC (of “How Bizarre” fame), and kiwis.
jayfray: you make me sad
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
DiscHuker: oh heh
Thanks and don’t be too sad – no work tomorrow!
not too sad. though, that’s another quote from the movie that you didn’t catch.
no work tomorrow? you are a day behind. march madness starts in about 1 hour. no work today AND tomorrow. 16 games each day to watch.
DiscHuker: oh – in England and NZ Easter holidays start on Good Friday (it is Maundy Thursday at the moment) – so it is a holiday from Friday – Monday (inclusive). What is March madness?
jfrater; by the way, great posting the on-line links – I’m reading Whitman now. I recognize many of the poems/sonnets without knowing they were his, shows how pervasive his work has become.
Mom424: that is definitely a bonus when you get lists of old books – most of them are now available online!
MzFly- it varied by state who had suffrage and who didn’t. Women could vote in Wyoming before it was even made a state. The 19th Amendment guaranteed suffrage to any citizen over the age of 21. The 26th Amendment changed that to 18 yrs and up.
I’m not trying to be picky, but technically speaking “Common Sense” isn’t a book, it’s a pamphlet. I still agree with it’s spot at the top though.
And The Jungle probably wouldn’t have been as effective if Teddy Roosevelt never read it, he was the one who called for congress to do something about the meat packing industry.