Product Description

In 1867, young Mark Twain set out for Europe and the Holy Land on the paddle-steamer "Quaker City". His enduring, no-nonsense guide for the first-time traveller also served as an antidote to the insufferably romantic travel books of the period.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3428655 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 651 pages

Customer Reviews

Innocents Abroad
Easily the greatest travel book ever written. The language is so easy to read concidering that its over 100 years old. Every page contains one or more gems of humour. I just could not stop laughing all the way through. Ive read it twice now and Im sure to read it again and again. Fabulous

Original and exciting tales of 19th century travels
Until reading this book I had little, even no perception of the way of life in mainland Europe in the 19th century. Yet after reading Twain's 'The Innocents Abroad' I couldn't help but feel refreshed and energised. My first thought when I got to the last page was that I had to visit the amazing places that he did 150 years ago.

I could never get bored of his sarcastic yet so true statements about the people and places he saw. I particularly enjoyed his synomonous accounts of busy and boisterous Napoli (Naples, Italy) and he really brought all the senses of what the city was like to me through the pages.

Despite being written so long ago it is suprising to see how little the world has changed apart from mass technological discovery. If all travel writers were as honest and 'frank' as Twain then I would be sure that we would all have a better judgement and sense of how the world around us really works.

A historical and cultural masterpieve written by one of America's most treasured and prized authors.

Classic Mark Twain - Characters we still recognize today
This book describes a group tour of "Europe and the Holy Land" Samuel Clemens experienced and reported about 100 years ago. He describes, in a way that only Mark Twain can, the people he meets and the places they go from the point of view from the American West. One memorable example of his American perspective is a comparison of Italian mountains, lakes and rivers with his beloved Rockies, Tahoe, and Mississippi. He also paints humorous portraits of the tour guides and his fellow travelers. The first time I read this book I was on an organized bus tour in Europe and quickly realized how many of Twain's human observations on how tourists are treated still apply, which makes the humor very accessible.