Description

‘Like Shakespeare, Dickens was able to embrace a whole world’ John Mortimer

When Charles Dickens set out for America in 1842, he was the most famous man of his day to make the journey, and embarked on his travels with an intense curiosity. His frank descriptions cover everything from his comically wretched sea voyage to his sheer astonishment at Niagara Falls, while he also visited hospitals, prisons and law courts. But Dickens’s depiction of America as a land ruled by money, built on slavery, with a corrupt press and unsavoury manners, provoked a hostile reaction on both sides of the Atlantic. American Notes is an illuminating account of a great writer’s revelatory encounter with the New World.

A poetic book when read today, Dickens provides his impressions of America on an extended visit there.
It is understandable that Americans would have been offended by much of its content, but he gives good grounds for any negative comments expressed & has much praise to give as well.
There is much that is moving – such as his visits to the schools for the physically impaired, state prisons & the chapter devoted to comments on slavery. A worthwhile read.
Interestingly enough, there is much of his criticism that can be observed as remaining true of America to the present day.

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Patricia Ingham