Domestic Manners of the Americans

In 1832, three years before Alexis de Tocqueville published Democracy in America, the English novelist Frances Trollope released Domestic Manners of the Americans, an eye-opening record of her travels in the young republic. Expecting a utopia of “justice and liberty for all,” she is shocked to discover the contradictions at the heart of the American character. Funny and fearless, Trollope’s biting critique became an international sensation. Yet, as Mark Twain remarked, "She was merely telling the truth and this indignant nation knew it.”

Today, Domestic Manners of the Americans remains a prophetic diagnosis of America and a masterpiece of nineteenth-century travel writing. Now published as an eBook with an introduction by acclaimed travel author Sara Wheeler, this classic work offers modern American readers a fascinating reintroduction to themselves.