From AudioFile
[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with MYSTERIOUS STRANGER AND OTHER STORIES.]--These two Twain titles were recorded in the mid 1980s. INNOCENTS is an early Twain work, expanding on a jocular series of travel articles he wrote on a Grand Tour of Europe and the Holy Land. Without trying to imitate Twain, narrator Prichard, who has recorded a number of titles by the same author, nicely plays the vigor, lightness, and wit of the original. He has a distinctly middle-aged sound, and the sharpish register of his voice cuts through the technical muddiness of the recording. Kent's voice does not. In STRANGER, we hear almost every edit, and there are many in his rendition of eight Twain short stories. The selection represents the author's entire career from the early, ironic "Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" to the late, bitter "Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg." Kent's excellent diction ensures that we miss not a word; on the down side, his reading is dry. Y.R. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Review
?A classic work . . . [that] marks a critical point in the development of our literature.??Leslie A. Fiedler --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Book Description
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, Twain’s 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 one’s 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.” --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
(in full The Innocents Abroad; or, The New Pilgrims' Progress) A humorous travel narrative by Mark Twain, published in 1869 and based on Twain's letters to newspapers about his 1867 steamship voyage to Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land. The Innocents Abroad sharply satirized tourists who learn what they should see and feel by reading guidebooks. Assuming the role of a keen-eyed, shrewd Westerner, Twain was refreshingly honest and vivid in describing foreign scenes and his reactions to them. He alternated serious passages--history, statistics, description, explanation, argumentation--with risible ones. The humor itself was varied, sometimes in the vein of the Southwestern yarn spinners, sometimes in that of contemporaneous humorists such as Artemus Ward and Josh Billings, who chiefly used burlesque and parody and other verbal devices. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher
14 1.5-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Inside Flap Copy
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, Twain?s 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 one?s 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.? --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover
“A classic work . . . [that] marks a critical point in the development of our literature.”—Leslie A. Fiedler --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author
Jane Jacobs’s 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. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.