In 1856, Isabella Bird published this lively account of her trip to America. She entertainingly describes the difficulties and surprises of her travels by sea from England to Halifax and by road to Boston, Cincinnati, and Chicago, and the energy and diversity of American society.

"Most assuredly that spirit of envious rivalry and depreciating criticism in which many English travelers have written, is greatly to be deprecated, no less than the tone of servile adulation which some writers have adopted; but our American neighbors must recollect that they provoked both the virulent spirit and the hostile caricature by the way in which some of their most popular writers of travels have led an ungenerous onslaught against our institutions and people, and the bitter tone in which their newspaper press, headed by the Tribune, indulges towards" -Isabella L. Bird, The Englishwoman in America

"A candid and kindly account of America, by a lady who went thither with good introductions, and had every possible opportunity of being well informed. Her volume is remarkable for its quiet, sensible tone, its abundance of information upon social topics, and its freedom from all tendency to over-statement. An excellent account of our Canadian colonies forms part of its contents." -Examiner

"An adventurous lady traveler....While on her travels, she from time to time sent home letters describing what she saw and did, and from such materials most of her books have been compiled." -The World-wide Encyclopedia and Gazetteer

"She resolved to make her wanderings a benefit to the people among whom she might sojourn....She possesses a hidden store of nervous vitality which carries her through her undertakings. Above all, she has an indomitable courage and will power, and a spirit which seems to exemplify the verse, 'As thy days so shall thy strength be.'" -The Churchman