This collection of essays addresses the ways in which American and British writers, painters and photographers have represented the American environment. Focusing on such figures as Jefferson, Crèvecoeur, John Neal, James Fenimore Cooper, William Cullen Bryant, Thomas Cole, Samuel Morse, Fanny Kemble, Dickens, Hawthorne, Clarence King and Edward Curtis, the authors explore the preconceptions, ideologies, and rhetorical and aesthetic conventions that shaped attitudes to the North American continent. With its numerous illustrations, including early photographs of the American West, this book will appeal to both scholars and students with an interest in American literature, history and culture.