American Notes

work by Dickens

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

American Notes, nonfiction book written by Charles Dickens, published in 1842. It is an account of his first visit to the United States, a five-month tour (January–June 1842) that led him to criticize the vulgarity and meanness he found there. Although he was a vocal critic of Britain’s institutions, he had expected more from “the republic of my imagination” than he found in democratic America. Dickens protested the absence of copyright protection; millions of copies of his works were sold in the United States, but he received no royalties. He also made a vigorous attack on slavery.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.