Larzer Ziff. First edition, first printing. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. Both unclipped dust jacket and hardcover are in Near Fine condition. No writing or markings found in this well preserved edition, looks unread, 304 pp.
The author traces the history of distinctively American travel writing through the stories of five great representatives, from the end of the Revolution to the outbreak of WWI.
He begins with two men who traveled first and later wrote about it. "John Ledyard (1752-1789) became arguably the first professional and copyrighted author in the US with his memoirs of travels with Captain Cook, and John Lloyd Stephens (1805-1852) discovered hundreds of ruins in the Yucatan and Central America. Ziff continues with two writers who traveled to gather material: Bayard Taylor (1852-1878) journeyed not only far and wide but also diversified his means of travel (reindeer sleighs, banghy carts, warships) to invigorate his narratives; and Mark Twain (1835- 1910), who when he wrote Innocents Abroad (1869), was a roving correspondent skewering sentimental travel books, tourists, and European monuments. Henry James (1843-1916), a logical and temporal conclusion to this American travel pantheon, seemed equal parts writer and traveler. Through these five, an array of styles and attitudes emerge, united primarily by a contemplation of an increasingly problematic American identity."
