America and the Americans in 1833-1834

America and the Americans in 1833-34 is a polemical, satirical acount of Gooch's feigned travels to America which focuses primarily on New York City and its environs. Never previously published, a large part of Widdicombe's achievements in his bringing to light its unjustly neglected author,who was a storyteller, poet, and perceptive observer who spent his most productive years on the edges of power and public recognition in Georgian and early Victorian England. Gooch's work adds an entirely new and in many respects, original voice, to the Victorian age debate over the status of theUnited States as an emerging cultural power. Widdicombe frames this unique "travelogue" with a short biography of Gooch, extensive textual and historical notes, an essay on Anglo-American travel literature, and a coda: "On the Perils of Oblivion." In his commentary, Widdicombe compares Gooch's workto the best-known British discussions of American life written in the first half of the nineteenth century including Powers' Impressions of America During the Years 1833, 1834, and 1835, and Hamilton's Men and Manners in America. A key to the intrinsic value of Gooch's account is its unique arrangement by subject matter: Gooch examines the American legal system, banks, labor; American policy towards Indians and blacks; he includes a condemnation of New York City government and its electoral process, among other topics. Thearrangement makes Gooch's satire far more entertaining, substantial, and informative than most travelogues written in the same period. It also allows Gooch to sustain his polemic- an effort to reorient the British attitude toward the United States, and stem the tide of expatriates to its shores.Gooch's remarkable analysis of American life, studded with relevant facts and tidbits taken from daily headlines, is heightened by his use of a fictive "envelope." He is the only author to have chosen the conceit of an imaginary "visit" to the United States and his approach adds significantly to theaccount by melding the power of fiction with the authenticity of received fact.