The first American road novel is not only an entertaining read but a detailed account of an era long past. All American writers can (or should) point to Twain as a major influence; the following passages contain hints of what would later become Jack Kerouac and Hunter Thompson:

"I never had been away from home, and that word 'travel' had a seductive charm for me. Pretty soon we would be hundreds and hundreds of miles away on the great plains and deserts, and among the mountains of the Far West, and would see buffaloes and Indians, and prairie dogs, and antelopes, and have all kinds of adventures, and maybe get hanged or scalped, and have ever such a fine time, and write home and tell us all about it, and be a hero."

"We jumped into the stage[coach], the driver cracked his whip, and we bowled away and left 'the States' behind us. It was a superb summer morning, and all the landscape was brilliant with sunshine. There was freshness and breeziness, too, and an exhilarating sense of emancipation from all sorts of cares and responsibilities, that almost made us feel that the years we had spent in the close, hot city, toiling and slaving, had been wasted and thrown away." ( )

Funny stories and good insight into day to day life in Nevada and Hawaii circa 1861-70. ( )

Mark Twain is truly funny. There are passages in this book--a memoir of his time in Nevada, and later, Hawaii-- that made me laugh out loud. On the other hand, there's an uneven quality to the book. Some of the incidents he describes have a distinct "guess you had to be there" quality. Much of the book is devoted to telling stories that Twain heard from other people, and these anecdotes are not nearly as interesting as those that happened to Twain himself. Overall, I'd recommend it. ( )

A very enjoyable look at the Old West through the eyes of one who lived there. A great picure of a greenhorn, yet through the eyes of an old hand, and they are one and the same man. He has an extraordinary talent for exploring serious subjects, yet in looking back at them, because of the distance, he is able to find humor in them. It is not a humor that is in jest or makes light of the problem, but the humor of experience and time. I have never wanted to visit Hawaii before, yet after reading this, I would like to. I might be hard-pressed to find the places he talks about though. ( )

This is Mark Twain in travelling writer mode. There are stories, descriptions and anecdotes of his travels throughout the Western United States of America. Being Twain, this is all intended to be taken with a small piece or two of sodium chloride, and is meant to entertain as well as inform.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3177 ( )