Synopses & Reviews
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, Twains 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 ones 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.”
Synopsis
One of the most famous travel books ever written about Europe and the Holy Land, Twain's hilarious satire gleefully skewers the ethos of American tourism in Europe and reveals just what it is that defines cultural identity. This edition features newly commissioned endnotes.
About the Author
Jane Jacobss books include The Nature of Economies and The Death and Life of Great American Cities, both of which are available in Modern Library clothbound editions. She lives in Toronto.