The Bostonians

One of Henry James’s most ambitious works, The Bostonians features a broadly political narrative about the cultural tastes and habits of Americans, with a specific focus on the position of women in society and the nature of modern sexuality. While the book has interesting sections describing Northern and Southern cultural differences (as for example a Mississippi lawyer veteran visits his cousin in Boston, and recoils at the political environment), the plot is too episodic and the writing too unfocused compared to his later novels.