Passage to America

America was a source of fascination to Europeans arriving there during the course of the nineteenth century. At first glance, the New World was very similar to the societies they left behind in their native countries, but in many aspects of politics, culture and society, the American experience was vastly different - almost unrecognisably so - from Old World Europe. Europeans were astounded that America could survive without a monarch, a standing army and the hierarchical society which still dominated Europe. Some travellers, such as the actress Fanny Kemble, were truly convinced America would eventually revert to a monarchy; others, such as Frances Wright and even Oscar Wilde, took their opinions further, and attempted to fix aspects of America - described in 1827 by the young Scottish captain Basil Hall, as 'one of England's "occasional failures"'. Many prominent visitors to the United States recorded their responses to this emerging society in their diaries, letters and journals; and many of them, like the fulminating Frances Trollope, were brutally and offensively honest in their accounts of the New World. They provide an insight into an America which is barely recognizable today whilst their writings set down a diverse and lively assortment of personal travel accounts. This book compares the impressions of a group of discerning and prominent Europeans from the cultural sphere - from the writers Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray and Oscar Wilde to luminaries of music and theatre such as Tchaikovsky and Fanny Kemble. Their reactions to the New World are as revealing of the European and American worlds as they are colourful and varied, providing a unique insight into the experiences of nineteenth century travelers to America.

Gloria Deák is a writer and independent scholar, specializing in American art and cultural affairs. Her books include Picturing New York. The City from its Beginnings to the Present; Picturing America. Volumes I and II; Profiles of American Artists and American Views: Prospects and Vistas.

Introduction 1. The New World Sojourn of Baron and Baroness Hyde de Neuville 2. Frances Wright Brings Reform to America 3. The American Peregrinations of Captain Basil Hall 4. The New World Enterprise of Frances Trollope 5. The Political Mission of Thomas Hamilton 6. The American Debut of Fanny Kemble 7. The American Odyssey of Harriet Martineau 8. The Daring Adventures of Charles August Murray 9. The Clairvoyance of Thomas Colley Grattan 10. The First Visit of Charles Dickens to the New World 11. William Makepeace Thackeray Lectures in America 12. Edward Dicey, Reporter Extraordinaire 13. Oscar Wilde Brings the New Aesthetics to America 14. Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky and the Birth of Carnegie Hall 15. Henry James Re-visits the New World