Unspeakable Awfulness

The late nineteenth century was a golden age for European travel in the United States. For prosperous Europeans a journey to America was a fresh alternative to the more familiar âGrand Tourâ of their own continent promising encounters with a vast wild landscape and with people whose culture was similar enough to their own to be intelligible yet different enough to be interesting. Their observations of America and its inhabitants provide a striking lens on this era of American history and a fascinating glimpse into how the people of the past perceived one another. In Unspeakable Awfulness Kenneth D. Rose gathers together a broad selection of the observations made by European travellers to the United States. European visitors remarked upon what they saw as a distinctly American approach to everything from class politics and race to language food and advertising. Their assessments of the âAmerican characterâ continue to echo today and create a full portrait of late-nineteenth century America as seen through the eyes of its visitors. Including vivid travellersâ tales and plentiful illustrations Unspeakable Awfulness is a rich resource that will be useful to students and appeal to anyone interested in travel history and narratives. . Language: English