Description
Book Synopsis''it appeared to me that the greatest and best feelings of the human heart were paralyzed by the relative positions of slave and owner''In Domestic Manners of the Americans, Frances Trollope recounts her travels through America between 1827 and 1830, describing her voyage up the Mississippi from New Orleans, a two-year stay in Cincinnati, and a subsequent tour of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. A transatlantic best-seller on publication in 1832, its forthright criticisms of American manners encompassed spitting, religious extremism, ladies'' dress, the relentless pursuit of money, and the unequal treatment of women, slaves, and Native Americans. Witty, satiric, and hugely entertaining, Trollope also had a serious purpose in warning her compatriots of the consequences of democratic freedoms at a time of great social change in England. Deploring slavery and the hypocrisy that sanctioned it, she fuelled abolitionist debate on both sides of the Atlantic and so impressed
Trade ReviewIt's a hugely entertaining and informative read, and the new Oxford World Classics edition has all the extras youd expect from this publisher, including an excellent introduction and notes, and even some of the illustrations from the original 1832 edition. Splendid stuff. * Harriet Devine, Shiny New Books *
Published in 1832, this feisty journal of a three-year spell in America remains delectably hilarious. * Christopher Hirst, Independent *
