Studies of America, 1837-69 Hardback

Harriet Martineau (1802-76) was an economist, sociologist, historian, journalist and educator, whose writings on many aspects of Victorian life were widely read and are now increasingly studied.

She wrote 70+ books, many periodical articles and 1600+ Daily News leaders (as well as thousands of letters) on many subjects including the laws of social life and the science of society, women's rights, religion and science, industrialization and worker-employer relations, the socialization and education of children, modern history and Victorian politics, social aspects of illness and treatment, and on many other matters.

Following the success of her "Illustrations of Political Economy", she set sail in 1834 for America.

For two years Martineau travelled throughout the new country, interviewing people of all classes, occupations, races and religions including the President, Congressmen and judges, American Indians, Black workers in the cotton fields, miners, farmers, convicts on death row, kitchen maids, and many others. She used every possible means of transport, extolling the virtues of walking, and studied documents, cemeteries, government statistics, literature and culture, newspapers, as important sources of information about American society.

Martineau reported her investigations in the seven books included in this set.

They are remarkable not only for their encyclopaedic content but also for their rigorous methodology, as set out by Martineau in Volume 1, "How to Observe Morals and Manners".

Her extraordinary studies have led many to identify her as "the first woman sociologist".

Supplemented by the selection of scarce articles and letters in Volume 8, the set provides the first ever comprehensive and integrated collection of Martineau's American writings.