Receive American Notes For General Circulation Presented By Charles Dickens Disseminated As Electronic Format

was a very intersting book to read, I have always loved Charles Dickens, There are so many thoughts going through my head about this book, I do not know where to begin.
This was a very interesting read, as I previously stated, in the sense that he brings to light America in a very different mannor than what history books portray.
This is a book about a trip he made to America from NovemberJune, In a broad sense he compares and contrasts England to America, Overall he is impressed with the country that America is becoming, but at the same time he sees all the shortcomings that no one at the time cared to address or see.
He touches on slavery, as it was the custom at the time, as well as the near destruction of the Native Americans.
He visited scholars, slaves, Native Americans, all manor of judicial figures, common townsfolk, among nearly every other type of person from others walks of life.


It is interesting to read the predictions he made for America and to compare those predictions to today as well as history between his visit and now.
I belive that were his words to be taken more heavily many years ago, we may be in a better moral state as a country than what we are now.
But who is to say I believe this is a book that every American should read, It is interesting to read the observations of an outsider, writing about the times in which he is visiting, and then to think of stories in history books we have been taught.
Although they are not too far off, the underlying tone is a bit different between the texts,

Overall Dickens was impressed with many, many aspects of America, It was the more underlying themes that bothered him the most and which he spoke in ill repute of.
As I write this now, it is difficult for me to truly convey the words, meaning, and theme of this book, as well as his thoughts.
You will just have to read it for yourself and either agree, or disagree with me, This is hard to rate as I read it more as a historical source than a work of literature but it was historically fascinating as well as including some strong passages of Dickens's wonderful writing.
After enjoying the scrumptious meal of a Dickens novel, I rise from the table sighing with content, full to the brim and happy.
However, I go on to other things and seem to forget in the meantime, how wonderful that meal was.


So it is with American Notes, I had forgotten how superb Dickens' writing is, how lush the prose, how subtle the hints, how witty the criticisms.
Now I remember.

InDickens spentmonths touring the United States, This was not a reading tour, just a visit to see the country, He saw the great cities of the East, refused to go any further south than Richmond, Virginia and travelled as far west as St.
Louis. He spent time in Canada as well, circling back to New York City to embark back to England,

He didn't like what he saw, The only time he comes right out and rants is on the subject of slavery, He devotes an entire chapter to it, and, as I said, refused to go any further south than Richmond.


He didn't like all the spitting American men did, either, but it didn't raise his hackles it aroused his sarcastic humor.


And he was very disturbed by a penitentiary in Pennsylvania that kept all of its prisoners in solitary confinement for their entire sentences.
They learned a trade such as weaving, sewing or shoe making, but saw no other human than the one that brought them their meals.
Dickens talked with some of these prisoners and was especially interested in those who were nearly ready to leave.
His view was that they were NOT ready to leave and would not be able to join in productive society.
The depth of this view can be seen in Dr, Manette in Tale of Two Cities, Upon being released from prisoner, where he has been in solitary confinement continuously, he has to be taken back to a small hovel at the top of an "apartment" building, left alone in the dark, pursuing his "profession" of making shoes.
This portrait is not something Dickens made up it came straight out of the prisons of America,

Dickens never straightforwardly criticized America he simply wrote cunningly funny stories about his adventures, And they are delightful! It's hard not to know what he feels, For instance, here is what he says about the American trait of Universal Distrust:

Any man who attains a high place among you, from the President
downwards, may date his downfall from that moment for any
printed lie that any notorious villain pens, although it
militate directly against the character and conduct of a life,
appeals at once to your distrust and is believed.
You will
strain at a gnat in the way of trustfulness and confidence,
however fairly won and well deserved but you will swallow a
whole caravan of camels if they be laden with unworthy doubts
and mean suspicion.


Sounds a lot like today, . .

If you love Dickens or if you enjoy reading travelogues, pick this one up soon,

This is a terrific book, both funny and insightful, In thes, Charles Dickens took a journey to the United States, It was not the easiest of ocean journeys back in those days, and the constant concern of the ocean, the battle against seasickness, and the angst for a quicker arrival make for a delightful way to start this story.
His descriptions of what he witnessed, including a chapter on slavery, make for an interesting look at the country from someone born in England.


I would recommend this book as a way to introduce yourself to Dickens, Some of the novels can be daunting, If you want to try something in a more lighthearted vein, in a book that anticipates the travel books that came in later decades, then this is worth your time.
I have mentioned my having been in some uncertainty and doubt, at first, relative to the sleeping arrangements on board this boat.
I remained in the same vague state of mind until ten o'clock or thereabouts, when going below, I found suspended on either side of the cabin, three long tiers of hanging bookshelves, designed apparently for volumes of the small octavo size.
Looking with greater attention at these contrivances wondering

to find such literary preparations in such a place, I descried on each shelf a sort of microscopic sheet and blanket then I began dimly to comprehend that the passengers were the library, and they were to be arranged, edgewise, on these shelves, till morning.


This vignette of travel on a canal boat between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania displays Dickens's customary whimsical sense of humor in his account of a sixmonth visit to the United States in.
The humor tends to focus, as here, on the mechanics and conditions of the travel itself, and on the quirks and foibles of his travelling companions and others he encounters.
For example, he is astonished at the universal practice among American men of chewing tobacco and yet nearuniversal abstinence of using spittoons, to great humorous effect.


He focuses his journalistic eye for detail on more serious subjects throughout, as well, He attacks slavery as poisoning the moral life of Americans, black and white alike, and calls out the hypocrisy of Southerners' arguments that public opinion moderated slave owners' treatment of their slaves, by listing a catalog of broken bones, whip marks, amputations, gunshot wounds, burns, brands, and more, taken from descriptions in their own newspaper ads for the return of runaways.
He toured many American prisons, workhouses, and institutions for people with disabilities and found them generally superior to those of England.


I enjoyed this book, both for its window into a time in American history with which I'm not very familiar and for its insights into Dickens's life.
American Notes, by the wonderful Charles Dickens, is one of the best books I ever read, TopNo. TopDefinitely! In, theyearold Dickens spent a few months in the United States, and even visited President Tyler in the White House.
Dickens very honest opinions on what he saw and experienced were a bit too much for some Americans , who didnt like Dickens views on slavery, which he rightfully could not compromise with.
Dickens visited Boston, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, even St Louis, and he traveled to Canada.
His descriptions of his travels via steamboat, railroad, stagecoach, and horseback are a pleasure to read, as his humor and sarcasm adds spice to the mix.
His description of Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia is a gem, not to mention an eye opener, Considering the fact that I read not for pleasure, but for learning, I will forevermore refer to this book when I think of the development of American culture, in all its glory and absurdity.
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