Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Henry James on Culture : Collected Essays on Politics and the American Social Scene, Paperback / softback Book

Henry James on Culture : Collected Essays on Politics and the American Social Scene Paperback / softback

Edited by Pierre A. Walker

Paperback / softback

Description

The eighteen essays in this collection show Henry James (1843–1916) in a new and unexpected light—as a political commentator and social reformer.

His acute powers of observation, his unerring feel for social nuance, and his abiding interest in the news, conversations, and controversies of the moment make these essays a witty and entertaining illumination of American, British, European, and colonial society in the years from 1878 to 1917.

Included are writings on British politics and diplomacy, on the language and manners of Americans, on the possibility of an afterlife, and on the heroism and human costs of the First World War.

Among the subjects that interest James are France’s infatuation with the Prince of Wales, the trumped-up excuses for war in Afghanistan, the brutal frankness of Bismarck, the parliamentary games of Gladstone and Disraeli, the rise of Zulu power in South Africa, the use of “yeah” and “yup” for the American affirmative, the fearlessness of American women and their immunity from criticism, the effect of chewing gum on the discussion of opera, the sufferings of Americans at the hands of store clerks, the proper degrees of gratitude for roadside bicycle repairs, the work of the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps, the use of the dash, the tyranny of the newspapers, the sinking of the Lusitania, and the conditions in military hospitals.

Information

Save 10%

£16.99

£15.25

 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information