Letters to Martin Van Buren

John Van Buren’s ‘Travel journal for a trip to Europe, 1838-1839’ is a record of the a year he spent in England, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium and Holland, primarily for his father, Martin Van Buren, the 8th President of the United States. A fly-on-the-wall view of the political and social situation in Europe was invaluable to the President at a highly sensitive moment in Anglo-American relations, and provides a rich and insightful view for historians of the period. Published in its entirety for the first time, Van Buren’s objective and good-humoured observations present fresh insights into complex and compelling personalities and relationships on both sides of the Atlantic, providing an invaluable and highly readable resource for scholars and students of the period, as well as for the general reader.

Author Biography

Dr Ross Nelson is co-editor of the Selected Letters of Caroline Norton, published by Routledge in November 2019. His research interests also encompass 19th-century history and literature on both sides of the Atlantic and 18th-19th-century imperialism in general.