The book contains twelve letters from James to the gentleman. The first letter is an introductory one, in the first letter, James sets himself up as a country farmer with little education, in contrast to the man he is writing to, who is well-educated and we can assume is a better writer than James. The second letter describes in great detail the plants and animals found on the farm where James is living. The third letter is titled What is an American? and it both asks and answers that question clearly. James continues the discussion he began in the second letter, where he describes the physical nature of the country and the (community of people/all good people in the world) that comes out/becomes visible from it, as well as what the American
