The Bostonians

In The Bostonians, Henry James sharpens his portrait of political idealism, social ambition, and private desire as the struggle over Olive Chancellor's reformist cause moves toward crisis. Against the polished streets of Boston and the quiet beauty of the Cape, Basil Ransom, Olive, and Verena Tarrant are drawn into a contest of persuasion in which flirtation, ideology, and possessiveness become inseparable. Verena glows with pride in her success at the Women's Convention, believing it has shown she has "a great use," while Ransom is both fascinated by her brilliance and repelled by the reform world she inhabits. Their conversation grows more intimate and more dangerous as he probes her convictions and she feels, despite herself, the force of his will. Meanwhile, Verena's thoughts turn uneasily to Olive's anxious expectations, giving their encounter a painful moral charge. As the novel nears its later chapters, the tension around a public lecture event suggests that Olive's carefully managed campaign is beginning to unravel. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.