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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
non-fiction,
By Judy Smith "judylynnsbooks" (jamestown, ky United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Englishwoman in America (Paperback)
Isabella Lucy Bird Bishop (1831-1904), Englishwoman and first woman elected to the Royal Geographical Society, vividly relates in this book her excursion to mid 19th century America. The account was first published in 1856 when the U.S., not one hundred years old, was self consciously flexing its muscles and proclaiming itself the greatest nation in the world.Miss Bird admits that she came to America to dispel many of the prejudices which had been instilled in her by those travelers who had gone before her. In speaking of the "Yankees" she relates, "We know they are famous for smoking, spitting, "gouging", and bowie-knives...for monster hotels, steamboat explosions, railway collisions, and repudiated debts." Miss Bird frankly likes much of what she sees. She openly admires the bustling cities with their friendly inhabitants, the miles of virgin forests, the awe-inspiring mountains, and the beautiful lakes and streams. She is dismayed and disturbed, however, by slavery, neglect of the Indian, and growing commercialism and materialism. This humorous and incisive book has none of the jargon usually associated with "travel books." It is a vivid and forceful picture of a rapidly changing America...the growth of its cities, its manufacturing, its agriculture, and its educational system. The reader is given a clearly focused portrait of a vigorous new nation attempting to reconcile Eastern sophistication with Western crudeness; Southern slave-holding attitudes with Northern abolitionism. Miss Bird's book is also a social commentary; wherever she travels she is interested in learning more of the attitudes and beliefs of the people she meets. Numerous anecdotes from all levels of society enliven her narrative and illustrate undeniably that she was a preceptive, unprejudiced observer. This trip, which took Mrs. Bishop to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the United States was the first of many which distinquished her as a widely renowned traveler and author. Her journeys to the Orient resulted in three books and a later visit in 1873 to the U.S. was recounted in A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. Refers to 1966 paperback edition.
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