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Tonight, we\u2019ll read an excerpt from \u201cAmerican Notes\u201d a travelogue written by Charles Dickens detailing his trip from the year 1842. While there he acted as a critical observer of North American society, almost as if returning a status report on their progress. Having arrived in Boston, he travelled as far south as Richmond, Virginia, as far west as St. Louis, Missouri and as far north as Quebec, Canada. The city he liked best on his trip? Boston.\n\nThe inspiration for this episode came from our recent \u201cHelen Keller\u201d episode. Her autobiography references a story within another section of tonight\u2019s book as inspiring Helen\u2019s mother to seek out specialized education for her daughter.\n\nDickens\u2019s American journey was also an inspiration for his novel \u201cMartin Chuzzlewit\u201d. If you\u2019ve been listening to our \u201cWoodcraft\u201d series of episodes lately, you may have heard mention of how the Woodcraft author named one of his famous hand-crafted canoes after a Chuzzlewit character.\n\u2014 read by 'N' \u2014\nSign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to\xa0snoozecast.com/plus!\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices