Innocents Abroad is Mark Twain’s first major work, based upon a trip the author took to Europe and the Holy Land aboard the steamer Quaker City between June 8, 1867 and November 19, 1867. The trip was unofficially sponsored by the Plymouth Church of Brooklyn, New York, and a rumor claimed that the church’s pastor, the renowned Henry Ward Beecher, along with Civil War hero William Sherman, would be participating in the expedition. Twain, who was working as a roving reporter for the San Francisco Alta California, viewed this as an opportunity to gather material for his first book. He persuaded the paper to pay his fare, and he would in return send back 50 letters reporting periodically on the activities of the first luxury cruise of the modern age.
Although both Beecher’s and Sherman’s...
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Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "The Innocents Abroad". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 January 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=502, accessed 09 June 2026.]
