Upon its publication in 1832 Domestic Manners of the Americans instantly caused a storm of controversy. A sometimes scathing, often witty, beautifully written account of the foibles and failings of America as Fanny Trollope saw them, Domestic Manners was roundly applauded across Europe. Banned in the U.S.A. for almost a century, it has since become a well-loved piece of literary history on Columbia's shores, even amongst the children and grandchildren of those it once gently taunted. Part travel book, part social history, Domestic Manners of the Americans is an incisive and perceptive description of the American character in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Mrs Fanny Trollope is the nom-de-plume of Frances Trollope, English novelist, born near Bristol, in 1780. She first came to public notice with the publication of Domestic Manners of the Americans, and went on to publish over 100 volumes, including Jessie Phillips, and Michael Armstrong, Britain's first "workhouse" novel She died in Florence in 1863. Anthony Trollope, well known author of the Barchester Chronicles, was her third son.