Anna Jameson (1794–1860) was an inspirational figure to a generation of young women writers and artists including Barbara Bodichon and Bessie Rayner Parkes. Her work was reviewed by leading figures such as Mary Shelley and Charles Kingsley, and even Thomas Carlyle, though less complimentary, referred to her as the 'celebrated Mrs Jamieson'. This book, first published in 1838, secured her growing reputation as a writer of history, literary criticism and travel literature, and has been popular ever since. Inspired by a journey made to support the career of her estranged husband, one of its key themes is the condition of women, which recurs regularly in Jameson's writing. Her three-volume account of the Great Lakes region records her impressions of the weather, landscape, society and indigenous peoples, and includes literary reflections, particularly on the German Romantics. For more information on this author, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=jamean