In addition to the specific details about Black Beauty's own life, the book also goes into descriptions of the way that cab drivers in London had to work slavishly just to pay off their license fees while taking fares that had a low legal cap on their maximums. After "Black Beauty" came out, many readers related to the plight of the horses who were being victimized, and in the first two years after its publication, a million copies of "Black and Beauty" were available in print. Even though it has been more than 120 years since the novel came out, many of its truths about human nature continue to ring true.