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.

But did it have any direct real-world result? I get your point, but I'm not sure it's that different from the possibility that for many people, reading Stieg Larsson was the first time they'd read a book by a Scandinavian author.

Good one!

I think he's credited not with the idea of a white Christmas, but more with the idea of Christmas as a major celebratory jolly holiday.

The question is, do you have any concrete evidence that it resulted in concrete real-world action? I doubt it.

I came on to say I wish The Handmaid’s Tale had changed things for women but sadly I don’t think it has.

Scandinavia was not colonised by the UK so reading a scandibavian author would not have a real life impact other than general insight into a different culture. Colonisation was justified partly by the dehumanisation in various ways of African people.

You're missing the point. I just randomly chose Scandinavia at because the author occurred to me, and I don't think colonization has anything to do with it. Much of the world was colonized at some point in time.

Its obviously got everything to do with the real world impact of Things Fall Apart though.

I don't think we in the west would be reading as much black African literature if it wasn't for the impact of Things Fall Apart. So many black writers reference it as transformative.

And certainly not at that point. Its impact on publishing and writing was huge.

Yes, and maybe so many people wouldn't be reading fantasy if it weren't for Tolkien. But that's not the point of this thread.

Goodness, the references to ‘Things Fall Apart’ take me back. I did it for A-Level in the 90’s.

I think opening the world of publishing to black writets who had been excluded, giving confidence to black writers who were told noone wanted to hear from them, developing understanding that black writers could be as sophisticated and intelligent as white writers, and by extension that black Africans were intelligent and capable enough to govern themselves is an impact of an entirely different order to that of a highly priveleged white Oxford don helping to develop a taste for fantasy.

Maybe, but I don't think that relates to the original question here.

Why does it not? It has opened up black writers to the world, which has changed it by giving voice to the experiences.

Handmaids Tail, although I worry Trump and his cronies are using it as a Mein Kampf.

Maybe?!

The renaissance of Irish literature and Irish poetry at the beginning of the 1900s gave the Irish people a sense of nationalism that helped bring about independence from the British empire. That inspired Ghandi and many other really influential figures of the 20th century.
It's an interesting question you asked, but world literature and history is so vast that it's unanswerable.
Of recent novels, I think The Overstory has been very influential in a quiet way.

Largely because I was thinking of books that had a fairly immediate impact, not something gradually over a period of time.

As to Handmaid's Tale, my impression is that not only do I not know of any change that it has wrought - I don't even think it entered the public consciousness until the television series.

Until recently I would have said 1984, except right now the US seems to be acting it out so…

What did 1984 change?

The Handmaid's Tale was a classic long before the television series.

The impact was immediate.

Yes, we studied it at school in the nineties.

That's not the issue here.
The point is that I don't think it entered into the public consciousness in a big way until the television series, and I know of no change it effected.

LOTR redefined the fantasy genre, and made it much more acceptable as an adult genre.