American Notes

"In American Notes", the Anglo-Indian Rudyard Kipling visits the USA, and the travel-diary that came out of it offers an interesting view of the America of the 1880's. Kipling affects a wide-eyed innocence and expresses astonishment at features of American life that differ from his own, not least the freedom (and attraction) of American women. However, he scorns the political machines that make a mockery of American democracy, and whilst exhibiting the racist attitude that has made him controversial since he was first published, he does conclude that it not easy being different in the land of the free.