Domestic Manners of the Americans

by Frances Milton Trollope

"Domestic Manners of the Americans" by Frances Milton Trollope is a two-volume travel book published in 1832. Following her residence in frontier Cincinnati and travels across America, Trollope delivered a caustic critique that scandalized readers on both sides of the Atlantic. She attacked American egalitarianism, evangelical influence, slavery, and social habits she found crude and offensive. Her sharp observations of what she perceived as American arrogance and lack of refinement created enormous controversy while also becoming a bestselling sensation that saved her family from financial ruin.