Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Innocents Abroad (1869 (The Oxford Mark Twain) by Mark Twain, Shelley Fisher (Series Editor) Fishkin, Mordecai Richler, David E. Sloane ISBN: 0-19-511402-7 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: March, 1997 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.48 (21 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The funniest book ever written-in the history of time!
Comment: Ok, maybe that is a minor overstatement, but this is one hilarous book, to be read by people who have travelled, who plan to travel, and generally, people who want to laugh. A lot.
The book is also surprising for its timeless points about the journeying of certain upper white, middle class people going on a grand tour of Europe. I frequently had to remind myself that it was written in 1869 because his observations and the behavior of his shipmates is so close to the way people I studied abroad with acted-only a few years ago.
Twain also puts those "cosmopolitan" people who claim to have traveled, but don't know anything about any place they have been but and just like to lord it over everyone else that they have "travelled" and you have not.
Reading this book is like listening to a very wise, old man tell you about his adventures. Its not like a book, more like one long conversation. Twain takes nothing seriously-not himself, his fellow travelers or the places they visit. The words are another adventure-sometimes, you know he is setting you up for something, other times he is serious for a while, then you end up in the middle of a joke.
I know this is against the rules, but the other posters who don't like this book-don't be so serious and p.c. all the time. Twain is making humorous observations, at a time when a different standard was acceptable. Not to mention, he does manage to get a few zingers in there about what people are willing to accept and what they do not.
You will laugh yourself silly and want to book a trip-not to Europe, just to anywhere, after reading this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Humorous, entertaining 19th century travel.........
Comment: In Innocents Abroad, Twain joins a passenger excursion to Europe and the mideast. Along the way, he and his fellow excursionists visit the Azores, Gibraltar, Paris, Venice, Istanbul, Damascus, Cairo and a host of places in between. Twain's acerbic wit is on full display as he offers up what are occasionally laugh-out-loud critiques of the places and people he encounters. Even his fellow passengers receive a ribbing, for which they often deserve, as they "chip" their way through the mideast removing souvenir pieces of religiously historic architecture. Innocents Abroad is not for the easily offended. This is a pre-PC view of the world which, properly judged for it's age, is highly entertaining.
The second book of this volume is Roughing It. Here, Twain takes us on a sojourn to the American west in the company of his older brother. Roughing It is possibly the best contemporaneous account of life in America's 19th century western expanse and beyond. From stagecoach travel to silver mining, exploration and discovery to regional ecomonics, lifestyle, and lawlessness, Twain provides the reader a humorous look at the many facets of Manifest Destiny.
As always, Library of America is a splendid publisher with an quality product priced attractively. I recommend this volume wholeheartedly.
NOTE: This review is for the Library of America volume containing both Innocents Abroad and Roughing It by Mark Twain.
Rating: 5
Summary: As good as travel writing can get
Comment: This book, along with Twain's 'Roughing It,' is often considered to be some of the best travel narrative ever put to paper. Certainly it deserves its acclaim. Twain, the irreverent All-American writer, took a trip halfway around the world in a steamer and visited many of the great sites of Europe and the Middle East. This is his account of his experiences, and the experiences of the group of 'Pilgrims' which accompanied him on this 'pleasure excursion.'
One of the best things about Twain is his refusal to romanticize, even in the cases of the greatest places in the world. He does not hesitate to verbally abuse Paris, Florence, Damascus, even Jerusalem. He tells it how it is, refusing to admire the work of the great painters (Raphael, Michael Angelo, and co.) and asserting that everyone who ever wrote of the beauty of the Sea of Galilee was a downright liar. He has some good things to say, too (he seems to have approved of Athens), but mostly he spends his time dispelling the romantic images of the great places of the world. The result is hilarious, and certainly makes one realize that, despite the perfect images that Paris, Pisa, and Rome sometimes have in our minds, they are a far cry from paradise.
Twain's wit, as always, is very sharp, and this book is an excellent example of it. His antics (and descriptions of them) are very funny, and his way of putting things a joy to read. Along the way, he pokes fun of the American "Pilgrims," who deface the sacred relics they visit and call every guide they have 'Ferguson.' This is certainly a classic in American Literature. Anyone interested in travel writing will profit greatly from this book, as will anyone who enjoys Twain's humor or just a good laugh.
 |
Title: Roughing It by Mark Twain ISBN: 0451524071 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1994 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
 |
Title: Following the Equator : A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain ISBN: 0486261131 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 September, 1989 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: A Tramp Abroad (Penguin Classics) by Mark Twain, Robert Gray Bruce, Hamlin Hill ISBN: 0140436081 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: December, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: The Bible According to Mark Twain: Irreverent Writings on Eden, Heaven, and the Flood by America's Master Satirist by Mark Twain, Howard G. Baetzhold, Joseph B. McCullough ISBN: 0684824396 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: December, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Mark Twain: Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches & Essays, 1852-1890 (Library of America, No 60) by Mark Twain, Louis J. Budd ISBN: 0940450364 Publisher: Library of America Pub. Date: October, 1992 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
