however, even though "uncle tom's cabin" was very important, many people thought the book was a mix of "children's fable and propaganda". many critics called the book "merely (only) a sentimental novel". george whicher wrote in his "literary history of the united states" that "nothing attributable to mrs. stowe or her handiwork can account for the novel's enormous (great) vogue (popularity); its author's resources ... of sunday-school fiction were not remarkable ... melodrama, humor, and pathos … compounded (made up) her book."