The Innocents Abroad (Dover Value Editions) - Softcover

Twain, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 048642832X ISBN 13: 9780486428321

Publisher: Dover, 2003

Synopsis

Hailed by the New York Herald as “an oasis in the desert of works on foreign travel,” The Innocents Abroad was a great success when first published, and it remained the bestselling of all Twain’s works throughout his lifetime. It shows the author at the height of his literary power as he records razor-sharp, often hilarious, observations of the people he meets and places he visits during a trip to Europe and the Holy Land in 1867.
Originally a series of travel letters written for a San Francisco newspaper, the book presents a refreshingly honest and vivid view of such places as Tangier, Marseilles, Gibraltar, Rome, Constantinople, and Damascus. Twain’s humor takes a particularly satirical turn toward tourists who rely on travel guidebooks rather than personal impressions to define their travel experiences. The book alternates light-hearted chapters with serious passages involving history, statistics, and descriptions of religious relics, artwork, and architecture.
From amusements and tribulations at sea, viewing the “outrageous” cancan in Paris, and witnessing the notable sights of Venice, to observing the grandeur of St. Peter’s, ascending Vesuvius, and contemplating the remains of Solomon’s Temple, this classic will delight a wide audience, including longtime fans of the American humorist and anyone who enjoys an entertaining and enlightening travel book. This edition also includes all the illustrations from the original publication.

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From the Publisher

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From the Inside Flap

The Innocents Abroad is one of the most prominent and influential travel books ever written about Europe and the Holy Land. In it, the collision of the American "New Barbarians" and the European "Old World" provides much comic fodder for Mark Twain--and a remarkably perceptive lens on the human condition. Gleefully skewering the ethos of American tourism in Europe, Twain's lively satire ultimately reveals just what it is that defines cultural identity. As Twain himself points out, "Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." And Jane Jacobs observes in her Introduction, "If the reader is American, he may also find himself on a tour of his own psyche."

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 048642832X
• ISBN 13: 9780486428321
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 688