An Independent Woman's Lake District Writings

by Harriet Martineau

This inviting and wonderfully accessible collection of Harriet Martineau’s essays (together with one fictional tale) — culled from hard-to-find American and British publications — chronicles the life, economy, society, and physical terrain of the English Lake District during the mid-Victorian era. As the first woman sociologist and an astute social observer, Martineau portrays and comments on the people of her beloved Lake District, their customs, virtues, health, and social problems. Her many books, articles, and newspaper essays sold widely during her lifetime (1802-1876) and remain today highly readable, pointed, and instructive.

This excellent sampling of the work of a pioneering sociologist and gifted writer, sometimes compared to Thoreau, will be of great interest to sociologists, scholars and students of women’s studies, and tourists of England’s Lake District.

504 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2004

About the author

Harriet Martineau (1802 - 1876) was an English writer and philosopher, renowned in her day as a controversial journalist, political economist, abolitionist and life-long feminist. Martineau has also been called the first female sociologist and the first female journalist in England.

Comprehensive list of her works with links to digitized versions here.