First published in 1894, A Traveler from Altruria tells the story of a foreign visitor who presents the concept of a Utopian society. Howells hoped his novel would allow readers to confront the inconsistencies, imperfections, and injustices of Gilded Age America. Reprinted here as a historical document, the text is supported with a conprehensive introduction, chonology, and questions for consideration.

Author Biography

David W. Levy is David Ross Boyd Professor of American Histoy at the University of Oklahoma. His special interest is American intellectual history. He has published "Herbert Croly of the New Republic: The Life and Thought of an American Progressive" (1985) and "The Debate over Vietnam" (1991) and is coeditor of the five-volume collection "The Letters of Louis D. Brandeis" (1972-1978) and of "FDR's Fireside Chats" (1992). Levy has won the University of Oklahoma Regents' Award for Superior Teaching and the Student Association's prize for outstanding teacher at the University of Oklahoma.