The American

Henry James's 1877 novel follows Christopher Newman, a blunt and wealthy American, as he courts a French aristocrat — and then must decide what to do when the aristocratic family destroys the match and a deathbed secret puts blackmail within his reach. James frames the choice as a test of character, and Newman's decision defines what James means by the American type. The Paris social scenes are sharp and often comic, and the central moral question holds up. The honest caveat: the second half drifts toward melodrama that critics across generations have found improbable, and the psychological interiority James would master in later novels is less fully realized here. For readers new to James, it is one of his more accessible novels and a good introduction to his international theme before tackling the denser later work.