The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress, by Mark Twain, public domain, $5–$40
At just 31, Mark Twain sailed to Europe and the Holy Land on the steamship Quaker City, an excursion that resulted in his first great literary success, The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress. Published in 1869, it remains one of the world's great travel narratives.
In Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Twain was shown the tomb of Adam. "How touching it was, here in a land of strangers, far away from home, and friends, and all who care for me, thus to discover the grave of a blood relative," he wrote of the site. "True, a distant [relation], but still a relation." This recognition of kinship stirred Twain "to its profoundest depths." Overcome by emotion, he "leaned upon a pillar and burst into tears." We don't ordinarily think of Mark Twain as a champion of Reagan-era "family values," but in his way, he was.
