American Notes

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 152 ratings

Price: 20.14

Last update: 12-16-2024


About this item

In 1842, Charles Dickens visited America. His reception was somewhat colder than that which usually greeted him - already a successful author in both Britain and the United States. This lack of enthusiasm from the Americans was partly due to his criticism of the pirating of English books in that country and partly due to his outspoken distaste for the custom of slavery in the Southern states.

He wrote in the preface to American Notes, 'Prejudiced I am not, and never have been, otherwise than in favour of the United States. I have many friends in America. I feel a grateful interest in the country. I hope and believe it will successfully work out a problem of the highest importance in the whole human race. To represent me as viewing America with ill nature, coldness or animosity is merely to do a very foolish thing, which is always a very easy one!' Despite this placatory tone, one American reviewer spoke thus of American Notes: 'The most trashy...the most contemptible...the essence of balderdash, reduced to the last drop of silliness and inanity'.

Listen to the journals and judge for yourself.


Top reviews from the United States

  • rachel
    5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly as presented.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2019
    If you love Dickens-- read this! Like all Dickens-- made to make you laugh and cry!
    If you really want to look hard at today's social problems read where they stood almost 200 years ago, its a good read for the historically interested.
  • Billy C. Plant
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but....
    Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2023
    I had a hard time with the stilted writing of the day. I could recognize amusing passages but really had to weave my way thru excess verbage to figure out what was being described. I moved on to a Vonnegut novel and one of Bill Bryson's books.
  • Karmann Guya
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story of 19th Century Travel in America.
    Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2015
    Dickens captures the essence of what traveling was like in 19th century America. Interestingly, we have conquered most of the problems he mentions (slavery, poor roads and infrastructure) but Washington continues to be the same. He points out that politicians are so derided and maligned that only the worst type of individual would want to be a politician in Washington. The more things change....
  • Fitzgerald Fan
    3.0 out of 5 stars Not What I Had Hoped For
    Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2006
    Perhaps because I have read so much of Dickens' fiction and enjoyed it so thoroughly, I had certain expectations that simply cannot be met in a work of non fiction.

    To be sure, Dickens' account of America in the 1800s is interesting and his penultimate chapter railing against the institution of slavery is fantastic, but the book seemed a bit verbose (not a surprise, I suppose) and contradictory at times. He makes many observations worth knowing about in relation to Transatlantic studies, but truth be told, certain ideas begin to become repititious fairly early on.

    While I feel Dickens' observations are/were valid, I think Fanny Trollope's "Domestic Manners of the Americans" is a much more enthralling read-- an account imbued with wicked humor and wit. In fact, Dickens was very much influenced by Trollope's account of America.

    Without question, Dickens is the King of Victorian literature and I am a HUGE fan, but if you want his best...go for broke with "Dombey and Son," "Bleak House," or "David Copperfield."
  • Gumboz1953
    5.0 out of 5 stars The chapter on slavery is devastating
    Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2019
    So much for “land of the free”. The whole American enterprise has always been a hypocritical house of cards. Dickens was too polite to say it.
  • Earnest Smith
    5.0 out of 5 stars Image
    Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2014
    I enjoyed this written image of our history. It felt alive and genuine, great descriptions of yesterday, simply fresh and human.
  • Mountain West Bob
    4.0 out of 5 stars Nice description of the U.S. in 1850 from a keen observer with special writing skills
    Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2018
    A very different Dickens. Very! His impressions from a 6-month visit to the U.S. in 1850. I've skipped or skimmed some pages where he's describing visits to insane asylums, and poor houses, but have enjoyed the read. Very good on descriptions of urban conditions and his reaction to slavery. Not terribly long, and worth reading if you've any interest in how folks lived and worked together to solve problems pervasive then... and pervasive now as well.
  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2018
    Interesting look at America

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