Pictures From Italy and American Notes for General Circulation

Dickens went to America in 1842 expecting to find a brave new world whose institutions embodied his own political views. The Americans expected him to extol their new nation. Dickens, however, became deeply disturbed by American culture. American Notes attempts to portray fairly the young Republic's new cities, strange landscapes and bustling people, but is coloured by Dicken's doubts about the failings of democratic politics in an egalitarian society.