recently, some people have begun criticizing the book for what they thought were racist descriptions of the book's black characters. they criticized the way stowe wrote about the characters' looks, speech, behavior, and the passive nature of uncle tom. the book's use of common stereotypes about african americans is important because "uncle tom's cabin" was the best-selling novel in the world in the 19th century. because of this, the book (together with images in the book and related stage productions) helped make a great number of people accept such stereotypes.