The Innocents Abroad

Mark Twain went abroad in 1867 aboard the steamship Quaker City, and the letters he mailed home became this comic account of a five-month tour through Europe and the Holy Land. He pokes fun at his fellow pilgrims, the guides who inflate the history of every relic, and the reverent travel writers who came before him. Paris, Rome, Athens, Constantinople, and Jerusalem all pass under his skeptical, wisecracking eye. Behind the jokes sits a sharp American looking hard at the Old World and refusing to be impressed on cue. It was the best-selling of Twain’s books during his lifetime and did much to make his name. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available here.