Mark Twain

The Innocents Abroad Mark Twain

At first blush, Innocents Abroad is an ordinary travel book. It is based on an actual expedition, in a retired Civil War ship (the USS Quaker City). The excursion upon which the book is based was billed as a Holy Land expedition, with numerous stops along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as a train excursion from Marseilles, France to Paris for the 1867 Paris Exhibition, and a side trip through the Black Sea to Odessa, all before the ultimate pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Twain records his observations and critiques of various aspects of culture and society he meets while on his journey, some more serious than others, which gradually turn from witty and comedic to biting and bitter as he progresses closer to the Holy Land. Interestingly, once in the Holy Land proper, his tone shifts again, this time to a combination of his former light-hearted comedy and a reverence not unlike the attitude he had previously mocked in his traveling companions.