Reviews for The Hamlyn book of why

The average rating for The Hamlyn book of why based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-06-17 00:00:00 Christopher Gibson His mother, Frances Trollope, having written a book 'Domestic Manners of the Americans' which was not very well received in the USA because of its unfavourable view of the country, Anthony visited the continent 30 years later to re-assess the country and in order to put the family name in a more favourable light. 'North America' is the splendid result for Trollope looks objectively at the country and, in the early years of the American Civil War, gives an unbiased opinion of the conflict while touring all around. It should be said, however, that his sympathies were undoubtedly with the North. He began his tour of America in Boston and thought it 'not specifically interesting to the eye', adding, 'what new town, or even what simply adult town, can be so?' He stayed only a week 'having been fairly driven out of it by the mosquitoes'. The reputation of Newport, Rhode Island, led him thither and his view was 'of all the summer haunts, Newport is supposed to be in many ways the most captivating'. He found 'excellent bathing' and he liked the private houses, describing them, too, as 'excellent' but overall 'there was little in it remarkable either as regards cultivation or scenery'. And his final comment as he moved on was 'In another hundred years or so Rhode Island may be, perhaps, as pretty as the Isle of Wight.' Travelling around he felt '[T]he American [railroad] cars are good enough for all purposes. The seats are not very hard, and the room for sitting is sufficient. Nevertheless I deny that they are good enough for all purposes.' And an interesting observation while travelling was 'One never meets an uncivil or unruly man, but the women of the lower ranks are not courteous.' Moving on to Quebec he remarked, 'I must confess that in going from the States into Canada, an Englishman is struck by the feeling that he is going from a richer country into one that is poorer, and from a greater country into one that is less.' He found the footpaths in Quebec 'almost entirely of wood', 'full of holes' and 'the boards rotten and worn in some places to dirt'. And, although the Civil War was progressing during his travels, he did not encounter any action although while in Canada he commented, 'many Americans are now coming here, driven over the borders from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, by fears of the war and the weight of taxation'. He was thrilled by his view of Niagara, saying, 'Of all the sights on this earth of ours which tourists travel to see I am inclined to give the palm to the Falls of Niagara.' And he enjoyed his stay there, giving plenty of description and history of the area. He regarded Michigan as the commercial capital of the States, West Point as the Sandhurst of the States, New York as 'pre-eminently great' in many ways, and Philadelphia as having 'thrown off its Quaker garb'. And in Philly he was amused by the system of numbering and naming the streets, '[A] person living in Chestnut Street between Tenth Street and Eleventh Street, and ten doors from Tenth Street, would live at No. 1010. The opposite house would be 1011. It thus follows that the number of the house indicates the exact block of houses in which it is situated.' Yes? He found 'cakes and ale still prevailed' in Baltimore and Washington was 'but a ragged, unfinished collection of unbuilt broad streets, as to the completion of which there can now, I imagine, be but little hope' but he was 'almost sorry to leave it when the day of my departure came'. And on the Virginian side of the Potomac the 'country house' that was Arlington House, with its high Greek colonnade was described as 'picturesque'. He declared that he would never forget Cairo, explaining, 'I do not mean Grand Cairo, but Cairo in the state of Illinois', the southern terminus of the Illinois central railway. He was persuaded to visit it by a fellow traveller but his view was 'As Cairo is of all towns in America the most desolate, so is its hotel the most forlorn and wretched' and his remarks on the food and drink provided were equally scathing. Interspersed with his comments on places he visited, his stringent opinions on the Civil War and on the different kinds of society that he encountered in the United States, there is plenty of historical background, all of which makes 'North America' a tremendously interesting view of the country in the mid-19th-century.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-06-06 00:00:00 David Nibel Trollope took a tour of the U.S. during the Civil War. I picked this up at my Dad's house for some reason. His reflections on American customs and morays are amusing, and his observations on what he sees as immutable differences between North and South sound all too familiar, chilling, but too simple. An interesting glimpse of a young America through the eyes of a novelist who was an imperialist (and a racist), a realist, and enjoyed the study of people.