The Innocents Abroad

Mark Twain was already a famous author when he undertook a journey from the United States to Europe, the Middle East, and Hawaii, and he had long-ago demonstrated his journalistic skills. When he proposed that a major newspaper underwrite the proposed journey in exchange for weekly reports of the expedition, the newspaper jumped at the offer. Later, Twain published these accounts of his travels, as the semi-autobiographical, partly fictional book, "The Innocents Abroad." His accounts of his travels are typically outlandish and hilarious, and provide a great deal of interesting and, at times, penetrating, observations about class, culture, society, traditions, art, and justice.