Rating: 
Summary: Splendidly Enjoyable
Review: "The Innocents Abroad" is Mark Twain's account of his voyage around the world with friends onboard the Quaker City in 1867. In the book Twain travels through France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Russia, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt, among others. This is Mark Twain, early in life, at his very best. Contrasting this with his autobiography, "The Innocents Abroad" is equally witty and comedic, but with Twain's patented cynicism being far less jaded than it would become at the end of his life. Twain's Biblical knowledge is impressive and surprisingly respectful as he recounts his travels to European cathedrals and later, multiple Middle Eastern holy sites. At the same time, his mistrust for many of the people in power and living in these lands, particularly the Middle East, is truthful and direct in a way that our hypersensitive modern world does not allow people to be. Twain's account of the Arab world was just as accurate then as it would be today, over 130 years later. His assessment of the mess their culture had created, especially in regard to the utter wasteland that was pre-Israeli state Jerusalem, is cuttingly accurate but brilliantly comical in typical Mark Twain fashion. This book is one of the best non-fiction books I've read in a long time. Mark Twain was truly a great American, and every patriot will enjoy following him on this trip around the world and may come away with a greater appreciation of all that Americans have.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the classic travelogues of all-time
Review: A complete burlesque of the traditional travelogue, especially the ones prevalent at the time of its release, The Innocents Abroad is a true classic of the genre. Mark Twain, even at this early stage in his career, had a keen eye for truth, and was unflinchingly honest and forward with his opinions and observations. Written before the anally-politically correct current era, Twain was free here to set forth what he truly thought about the given situations - even if it burned some ears. His irrevent descriptions of some of the most famous (not to mention holy) landmarks in Europe and the Middle East are by turns caustically biting and cynically hilarous; on the other hand, and far less ackwnoledged, are his enthusiastic waxings over the true beauty of certain artifacts and scenes. Twain here, unlike so many other travel writers both past and present, truly gave his own honest impressions of the things he saw - even if he disdained some of the most revered things on earth. Twain, characteristically, was also humble in his way, freely admitting his ignorance of such subjects as art - while, at the same time, showing off his immense knowledge of history, The Bible, languages, and many other subjects. Twain was a true American original, and he is sorely missed. One might call the book a bit overlong: some passages go on longer than they should, and some of the attempted humor falls flat. Furthermore, some of the drier sections are less interesting and more tiresome to wade through; still, Twain's ever-present sense of humor and continually sharp wit are always there, and serve to make this book perpetually more interesting than the stadard dry, boring travelogue. A must-read for fans of travel writing, and of course for fans of Twain.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny but Parochial
Review: I am generally a fan of Mark Twain but was disappointed in this book for a few reasons. He traveled on this famour voyage to Europe and the Middle East when he was still a young man, and the humor is sometimes on the juvenile side. He is often making fun of people's eating habits and clothing, and his comfort or lack of comfort at many points along the road form the subject of much of his material. He makes a lot of comments about the nature of the beast that he is riding at the time be it horse, camel or donkey; but while he anthropomorisizes the animals, he seems to not have been able to communicate with the humans he meets. Few conversations with native people or guides are evident and he does not seem to have been able to understand the cultures he visits in any depth. The strength of this book is his impressionistic visual descriptions of places before they were transformed by technology after the late 19th century.
Rating:
Summary: Funny but Parochial
Review: I am generally a fan of Mark Twain but was disappointed in this book for a few reasons. He traveled on this famour voyage to Europe and the Middle East when he was still a young man, and the humor is sometimes on the juvenile side. He is often making fun of people's eating habits and clothing, and his comfort or lack of comfort at many points along the road form the subject of much of his material. He makes a lot of comments about the nature of the beast that he is riding at the time be it horse, camel or donkey; but while he anthropomorisizes the animals, he seems to not have been able to communicate with the humans he meets. Few conversations with native people or guides are evident and he does not seem to have been able to understand the cultures he visits in any depth. The strength of this book is his impressionistic visual descriptions of places before they were transformed by technology after the late 19th century.
Rating:
Summary: Europe (and Palestine) for the Idiot
Review: I deeply regret having ever read this book. Mark Twain (and his Samuel Clemens pseudonym) is a revered author, no matter how atrocious is the last quarter of "Huckleberry Finn," and it is with great sadness that I realise that Twain / Clemens was simply a boor. This book reveals a chauvinistic ignorance that at times angers but more often simply disgusts the reader. Twain stands revealed as a person incapable of seeing past his own considerable prejudices. His minor saving grace is that he does so accurately see past the pretense of the snobbery of Europe and the hucksterism of Palestine. This small grace is more than offset by his reverse snobbery. Twain's generation worshipped progress, such that he can only see merit in a thing if it has a practical side. When Twain comes to tired and full Europe and even more tired (if not quite so full) Palestine he can see only legacies of a grand past for which he feels only contempt because he cannot see them in application to the present world. The problem is that Twain's values are so completely at odds with those of whom he writes. This in itself is forgiveable, but it is Twain's unwillingness to accept any values other than his own as valid that reduces "Innocents Abroad" to boorish drivel. Twain had little or no interest in discovering new peoples and cultures; he had already made up his mind on all of them. He was instead solely interested in justifying his own lamentable glorification of Americana. His comparison of Nevada's Lake Tahoe to Italy's Lake Como would be enraging were it not for the fact that Twain has already revealed himself by this point as a person whose opinions are so illiterate as to be inconsequential. Ultimately, Twain's cultural and social insensitivity is such that one wonders if it is not hear that the phrase "Ugly American" has its origins. Twain's treatment of the Sphinx and his disgust at his fellow travellers' frantic destruction of centuries-old structures for their own personal collection do give small signs that Twain is not utterly unregenerate, but by this time 400+ pages have elapsed and Twain has given too much evidence of the contrary for this trifling bit of sensitivity and respect to look like anything but an aberration. Perhaps I should give Twain some allowance. He was a humourist and he was trying to be funny. I shouldn't condemn him so utterly just because he failed in his attempt, even if it is the sheer nature of his failure that causes me such discomfort. It might be argued that in many cases I simply don't get the joke. If so, fine; I suspect that in those cases I am just as glad to have not understood his humour because I doubt that I would have shared it. A brief aside: Despite Twain's admiration for Louis Napoleon III and contempt for Sultan Abdul-Aziz as evidenced in Chapter 13, it was France and Napoleon that fell four years later in the Franco-Prussian War, while the Ottoman Empire lasted a full fifty years more before collapsing as a result of the upheavals of the Great War. Maybe Twain's vision was not quite so clear as he thought.
Rating:
Summary: Twain Abroad
Review: In 1867, Mark Twain joins the ship "Quaker City" on its cruise from New York to the Mediterranean and Black Seas. It's not simply a sea-going matter however, as the passengers are able to disembark and explore by land, rejoining the ship at ports later in her itinerary. Twain (and others) take advantage of such opportunities, and the reader is treated to Twain's impressions of countries ranging from France to Russia and the Holy Land to Egypt. I thought that "Innocents Abroad" was an interesting period piece of travel writing - all the more intriguing I suppose if you have visited the places Twain describes. But if, like me, you haven't been to most of those places, Twain's descriptions are still worth reading and are entertaining. I think that the reader needs to be aware that this is very much writing "of its time". Twain spares little in his descriptions of those people he did not like, frequently referring to Arabs as "savages", and how's this for making friends and influencing people: "The community is eminently Portuguese - that is to say, it is slow, poor, shiftless, sleepy, and lazy." I wondered how large the Lisbon branch of the Mark Twain Appreciation Society is after reading that. I found Twain's humour very hit-and-miss. At his best, he uses a sardonic, sarcastic but nonetheless controlled method of describing places, people and customs: for example, the proliferation of "genuine" religious relics, the descriptions of the dismal and depressing Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (it's even worse now), and the sheer boredom of tramping through endless art galleries. On the other hand, he has a tendency to be long-winded - for example, the digression about oyster shells in Smyrna was far overdone. Nonetheless, there's plenty in this book to enjoy. G Rodgers
Rating:
Summary: Humorous, entertaining 19th century travel.........
Review: 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:
Summary: Americans Abroad - Read a contemporary review
Review: Mark Twain's tale of rich 19 century Americans let loose in Europe and the Holy Land provides an insight into Victorian travel habits I suppose, but it is not very noteworthy as a travelogue. Its real value is that it is testament to Twain's undeniable skills as a writer and as a linguist. I came across an original review of Innocents Abroad at The Atlantic Monthly's website. Unfortunately I am not permitted to type in the whole web address so that you could more easily find the T.A.M. review, but if you are interested, go to The Atlantic Monthly's website and under the section entitled "Books and Critics" type in "innocentsabroad.htm" at the search engine. The review itself was written in December 1869.
Rating:
Summary: The funniest book ever written-in the history of time!
Review: 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:
Summary: A Travel Book from 1869 That's Worth Reading Today
Review: Reading early Mark Twain is like watching a young David Letterman. The brilliance is there, but its owner is still learning how to use it. In 1867, Twain was dispatched by a San Francisco newspaper to be a passenger on the first organized tour group of Americans making their way through Europe and the Near East. In 1869, he reworked his newspaper dispatches into something resembling a book, although that book is more like Gulliver's Travels than Moby-Dick. Twain's modern detractors don't approve of how he wrote so dismissively about "the natives." What they overlook is that he is even more cutting when he is writing about the pious, provincial Americans he is traveling with. The Innocents Abroad is one of the first books that grapples with what it means to be an American. And it's a lot more fun to read than Henry James.
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