As an American author who chose to live in Europe, Henry James frequently wrote about cultural differences between the Old and New World. The plight of bewildered Americans adrift on a sea of European sophistication became a regular theme in his fiction. This collection of twenty-four papers from some of the world's leading James scholars offers a comprehensive picture of the author's cross-cultural aesthetics. It provides detailed analyses of James's perception of Europe-of its people and places, its history and culture, its artists and thinkers, its aesthetics and its ethics-which ultimately lead to a profound reevaluation of his writing.