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Size: 6 x 9
Pages: 248
Illustrations:

U.S. History
 paperback
 ebook
 hardcover
 Forthcoming
 Books
 Women's & Gender Studies
 Travelogue & Essays
 Open Access Ebook

Women Traveling by Themselves in Nineteenth-Century America

A Critical Anthology of Anglo-American Women's Travel Writing

edited by David J. Langum, Sr.
with Virginia Langum

Paperback
978-1-64336-625-8
Published: Dec 17 2026

$29.99

Hardcover
978-1-64336-709-5
 Published: Dec 17 2026

$74.99

Spiral Bound

 Published:

Ebook
978-1-64336-710-1
 Published: Dec 17 2026

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OA Ebook
978-1-64336-710-1
 Published: Dec 17 2026

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The inclusion of this book in the Open Carolina collection is made possible by the generous funding of University of South Carolina Libraries

Women's independent travel and the negotiation of risk and respectability

Women Traveling by Themselves in Nineteenth-Century America is a critical anthology of travel writing by women who journeyed without male escort. The collection brings together diaries, rare publications, and selections from canonical writers such as Harriet Martineau, Margaret Fuller, and Isabella Bird, alongside lesser known figures, including Rachael Morgan Ball, whose diary is published here for the first time.

By framing selections with substantive editorial introductions, David J. Langum Sr. situates these texts within broader debates about gender, mobility, and independence. Rather than focusing solely on literary expression, the anthology foregrounds the material and social dimensions of travel, revealing the perils and possibilities women encountered on the road.

These accounts challenge assumptions that independent female travel was exceptionally dangerous while illuminating women's agency during a period of dynamic social and technological change. This anthology is ideal for courses in women's history and life writing, transportation history, and mobility studies.



David J. Langum Sr. (October 24, 1940 to March 29, 2026) was research professor of law at Samford University and author of nine books, including Crossing over the Line: Legislating Morality and the Mann Act.

"Women Travelling by Themselves offers fascinating insight into how women navigated the evolving travel networks and technologies of early America."—Chris Keirstead, Auburn University, author of Victorian Poetry, Europe, and the Challenge of Cosmopolitanism

"This anthology demonstrates the value of studying 'unprotected' women's travel writing as a distinct genre."—Diana Epelbaum, Marymount Manhattan College, contributor in Transatlantic Women Travelers, 1688-1843