George Ticknor, Edward Everett, Joseph Green Cogswell, George Bancroft, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and John Lothrop Motely are the pioneers studied in successive essays of this volume. They were the first Americans of distinction to study abroad, the earliest explorers of European culture, apostles of learning, cosmopolitans in the truest sense of that term, serving as an important connecting link in the intellectual relations between the two continents. The book presents a detailed analysis of their experiences and impressions and of their many interesting contacts as they wandered over Europe and Great Britain, meeting almost everyone of eminence. It further shows the rich contributions these scholars made upon their return home to the progress of human knowledge and to the advancement of American intellectual life in the nineteenth century. Each essay presents much material that has hitherto been unpublished and fresh and vital points of view.