Bryce frequently labeled his writings "impressions," but that word is deceptive in characterizing works such as his five-hundred-page
Impressions of South Africa (1897), most of which details the intricate historical roots of the Anglo-Boer crisis, or his six-hundred-page
South America: Observations and Impressions (1912), which offers nearly one hundred pages of reflections on racial issues on that continent. His works are anything but impressionistic. He traveled to educate himself, and like many Victorian travelers, he wrote to educate others. Although his most well-known and distinctive work,
The American Commonwealth (1888), is not a travel narrative per se, it was the result of his listening to Americans of all professions and social classes during his travels across the country. It was a best-seller in both Britain and America, was taught in American schools, and prompted William Howard Taft to comment, at Bryce's death, that he "knew us better than we knew ourselves."
As Christopher Mulvey notes, Bryce's grasp of the principles of the American experiment in democracy made his estimation of the United States unique among English travelers. Bryce recognized the promise of development in America far better than did Matthew Arnold, Anthony Trollope, and other British travel writers too quick to criticize or dismiss the promising if sometimes awkward adolescent nation.
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