Through the views of French travelers and diverse French studies about the United States, this book shows how French opinion of the United States evolved during the late nineteenth century. Aspects of American life were puzzling and exotic to the French, yet American towns and industry gave the proof of an emerging economic power, and American society provided attractive models of social engineering. Even before World War I, the United States found its place in French opinion, following trends that continued throughout the twentieth century: fascination and misgivings, attraction and repulsion.