This Article First Appeared In The Scroll On Sep 15, 2023
As a lifelong journalist, Edgar Watson Howe was well aware of what curious newspaper readers in smalltown America were looking for when reading about other parts of the world.
A son of a Nebraska abolitionist who fought against the Confederates in the American Civil War, Howe entered the world of journalism at the age of 19 and tried (with limited success) to write novels. By the time he was journeying through India, he had developed a unique style of travel writing that drew comparisons between the landscapes of the United States with those of the countries he was visiting. India, though, left a whole variety of impressions on him, which he neatly documented in the Lincoln Nebraska State Journal.