Introduction

Exploring the conflict between concepts at the heart of the American dream—personal freedom and the social limitation others want to place on that freedom—Daisy Miller was a smashing success when originally published in 1878. It remains one of the most popular books written by author Henry James. The short novel established James's reputation as an author on both sides of the Atlantic, and he went on to further explore complex women in such celebrated novels as The Portrait of a Lady (1881).

James had two significant inspirations for the tale he told in Daisy Miller. In the fall of 1877, he heard a story in Rome about a somewhat ignorant, unknowing American mother new to the ways of Europe. The mother allowed her daughter to befriend a Roman man, whom she introduced to new friends they met in...