The best-known and most influential works of American travel literature appeared after 1869, when Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad appeared to critical and popular acclaim. The Nation first published Henry James's writings on the European scene in 1870; his first published volume, Transatlantic Sketches, did not appear until five years later. But between 1820 and 1870, travel writings were among the most popular forms of literature read by Americans. The most avidly read works and the largest body of published material concerned the European Continent. Americans had deeply conflicted attitudes about the Old World. It was the source of their civilization, the home of much they wished to emulate. Europe also represented much that Americans despised. As a result of this tension, they produced and consumed a large amount of judgmental literature about Europe. Writers were aware of this and struggled to find a distinctive...