What novels have had a substantial real-world effect?

[MsAmerica]

What novels have had such a powerful impact that they triggered an actual change in socio-political policies or overall public opinion on an important subject?

I can only think of two, offhand:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair Any others?

As far as I know, books like Grapes of Wrath may have had enthusiasts, but by the time it came out, it was too late for any relevant policy. And I know that Dickens may have influenced public policy, but I don’t think it was due to a particular novel.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo was very influential, both at home and in Civil War America.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell - part of a campaign for social reforms in the early 1900s.

Khrushchev and Gorbachev so underrated. Peace makers and the genuine intellectuals. It is hardly distant, when Medvedev got in the first thing I said to my partner at the time was ‘Puppet!’

I think it was generational wasn't it, Khrushchev and Gorbachev? The generation who were young during de-Stalinization became the drivers of glasnost and perestroika. And yes Medvedev was obviously a puppet, a return to the old days, a halt in progress.

An author will pick up on and write about the zeitgeist. They may nudge something forward, or even give it a great shove, if they are widely read. But it’s unlikely you could point to one book and say “that, on its own, toppled kings”

It sounds like the Great Man theory of history - that exceptional individuals cause changes. I don’t ascribe to it. If not Hitler, or JFK, or Gorbachev- then someone else. Possibly a year later, or six months earlier, or in a different order… but WWII, going to the moon and glasnost would all have happened anyway, IMO.

I think Demon Copperhead has brought a lot of attention to US domestic drug issues, in audiences that might not otherwise have been aware. Not changing laws but moving things in the right direction hopefully

100% agree.

Sure - but Dopesick, Empire of Pain etc, and the actions of various brave local lawmakers have done at least as much.

Also by Victor Hugo, Hunchback of Notre Dame helped to save the Cathedral and some of the surrounding area from destruction when Paris was redesigned in the nineteenth century.

1984? Except it obviously didn't.

More seriously and more recently I guess The Handsmaid's Tale (more the televised version) has raised some awareness of women's rights.

I even cried at the plot synopsis of that book - a starving man is breast fed by a young mother at the end. Couldn’t bring myself to actually read the book…we’ve all led such charmed lives in comparison.

I think it also helped save the Cathedral after the fire a few years ago. If there hadn't been the novel, the plays based on it and the musical..

Although given the amount of time from writing to publication, isn’t it generally true that writers create zeitgeist?

Imo, no. But ymmv.

That’s fair. My mileage this year was 185,000! (My car, I’m nearly 47!)

I can think of heaps of books that disprove your theory, but also some zeitgeists are more than a passing fad and last years and in that way I agree with you and some get more intense in the middle as amazing writes tackle them. If that makes sense?

Edit: stupid slow internet today!

impressive!!😀

I disagree the TV show has had more impact than the book

Wasn't this Lenin's favourite book?

I read Vera Brittains “ Testament of Youth” , her determination to obtain a university education and then to follow her brother and his friends to serve during WW1 was admirable.
I read it when my DS was in 6th form and I couldn’t imagine his friends and him being subjected to the horrors Vera and her contemporaries went through. I suppose we have the benefit of technology and social media so are able to see in real time and technicolour how wars are conducted. I doubt any young man/boy would have marched off to France in 1914 if he’d been receiving TicToks from his friends documenting life in the trenches on the front line.

Another post WWI book was “A Month in the Country” by JL Carr. The story of a veteran trying to re-enter society/life after years living in trenches amongst the horror.

Neither book is a classic but they describe the effects of war on real people. There message is far more direct and should be compulsory for every generation. A direct description of how war can destroy a generation both physically and mentally.

Sure - they’re great but the OP asked about novels

Jeez…this book and the dire film adaptation. Has it really been that influential??

A lot of sci fi has strongly influenced actual science and tech.

Asimov and the three laws of robotics, William Gibson and cyberspace/VR in Neuromancer.

I'm sure there are many many more.

So many. To Kill a Mockingbird. Everything by Jane Austen. The Trial (Kafka). 1984. Catch 22. Heart of Darkness. Le Rouge et le Noir. Harry Potter. LOTR. Love in the Time of Cholera. Don Quixote. War and Peace. And on and on and on.

A more recent example -demon copperhead. I