A Woman of Amherst

From the pen of one of Amherst Massachusetts's most important women comes an intriguing glimpse into the nineteenth century. Twice Orra White Hitchcock traveled with her husband Edward a famous geologist and president of Amherst College. She kept meticulous diary entries of their journeys observing with wit and frankness the people and places she encountered.</p>Orra writes behind-the-scenes accounts of a scientific conference in Edinburgh and of a visit with some of the century's most notable contemporary scientists in London. She describes in stunning and honest detail Sunday services an international antiwar congress in Frankfurt and slavery on the streets of Richmond Virginia. Because she was an open-minded woman her pages are rich in entertaining stories of botanical gardens public entertainments and the shops of London and Paris. She also indulges the reader with romantic descriptions of memorable landscapes in Wales Ireland Scotland Germany and Switzerland.</p>Spanning the ocean from America to Europe Orra's never-before-published travel journals offer a vivid inside look at one woman's unique experiences in a world moving toward modernity.