Inexorable Yankeehood: Henry James Rediscovers America, 1904-1905

Inexorable Yankeehood analyzes the clash between Henry James and American journalism during his 1904-5 tour. Drawing on the contemporary press and supplemented by a neglected visual archive, it charts James’s progress as he gathers the impressions for his theory of America. As James comes before the public, his critique unfolds in a rising arc. Press response follows its own trajectory, divided between reviling the messenger and considering the justice of his message. At the apex of his critique, James’s alphabet of impressions anticipates the charges of the era’s radical journalists. Although many scholars explore James’s critique of America and his attitudes to journalism as revealed in fiction, none analyzes the clash between James and the press during his visit. This book redresses that omission, en route to supplying a missing chapter in American cultural history.