Review
This well-edited text presents the observations and impressions of a variety of Americans who visited or resided in the city, focusing especially on nineteenth-century sources. Studies in Travel Writing, Vol. 12, No. 3 2008
Product Description
Liverpool was the first British port of call for most American travellers throughout the nineteenth century. Although some, like Henry James, preferred to describe the more picturesque Chester, many travellers left accounts of their experiences in the city. Some of these are richly detailed, like Herman Melville's account of the Liverpool docks in his novel Redburn and Nathaniel Hawthorne's record in his journals during his years as American consul. Most, however, give fascinating glimpses of a Liverpool life that has now disappeared, and cumulatively make up a chronology of visits from such figures as Harriet Beecher Stowe (of Uncle Tom's Cabin fame), the naturalist John James Audubon, and the African American campaigner against slavery Frederick Douglass. The excerpts collected here give a series of American views of Liverpool and demonstrate the rich variety of cultural contacts between the two nations during the nineteenth century.
About the Author
David Seed is Professor of American Literature at the University of Liverpool.
