When I was laying the groundwork for my novel, A Human Rights Odyssey, I steeped myself in civil rights literature.  One method was to watch as many documentaries as possible on Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman and others.  I also read two novels from the Civil War period, North and South by John Jakes and Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  John Jakes' writing gave me useful tips as to how write history into my fiction.  Harriet Beecher Stowe, by graphically portraying the evils of slavery, sought to create moral outrage.  I tried to do the same in my own novel by portraying my first hand experience of racial discrimination, persecution of Refuseniks, unjust deprivation of the civil rights of Jewish inmates, the second class status of both Native Americans and aboriginal people in Canada, and Islamophobia in the aftermath of 9/11,  I felt a special commonality with Harriet Beecher Stowe and regret that I never read her work while in High School.  Her abolitionism was motivated by Christian values and my pursuit of a just and gentler society is motivated by Jewish prophetic values.  Although the scope of my worker is much broader, I feel that Harriet Beecher Stowe and I are kindred spirits.