ABSTRACT
Such findings lend some support to the proposal that the Humanitarian Revolution-that is, the period extending from the 17th century through the 19th century when socially sanctioned forms of violence like slavery, superstitious killing, and sadistic punishment were systematically challenged and gradually abolished-was influenced in part by the increasing availability of poignant memoirs and novels describing the mistreatment of victims (Hunt, 2007; Pinker, 2011). To take an especially vivid example, in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which appeared in 1852, there are many heartbreaking scenes in which slaves are flogged and children are taken from their mothers. These graphic portrayals of unwarranted suffering gripped people’s hearts and minds so strongly that the book sold over 300,000 copies in the first year alone and helped catalyze the movement to end slavery. As Pinker (2011, p. 155) points out, “According to legend, when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe in 1862, he said, ‘So you’re the little woman who started this great war.’” Lincoln was exaggerating, of course, but his statement clearly attests to the power of narrative to change people’s attitudes and galvanize them into action.
