Character and Opinion in the United States

"The major part of this book is composed of lectures originally addressed to British audiences. I have added a good deal, but I make no apology, now that the whole may fall under American eyes, for preserving the tone and attitude of a detached observer. Not at all on the ground that to see ourselves as others see us would be to see ourselves truly; on the contrary, I agree with Spinoza where he says that other peoples idea of a man is apt to be a better expression of their nature than of his. I accept this principle in the present instance, and am willing it should be applied to the judgements contained in this book, in which the reader may see chiefly expressions of my own feelings and hints of my own opinions. Only an American and I am not one except by long association can speak for the heart 1 Perhaps I should add that I have not been in the United States since January 11912. My observations stretched, vdth some intervals, through the forty years preceding that date.