I wished to write a very American tale, a tale very characteristic of our social conditions, and I asked myself what was the most salient and peculiar point in our social life. The answer was: the situation of women, the decline of the sentiment of sex, the agitation in their behalf."
Such was Henry James's intention in writing The Bostonians, which, with The Portrait of a Lady, its predecessor, has been classed by F. R. Leavis as one of the two most brilliant novels in the language'
Well worn but intact copy

Condition: Fair