As a former English teacher, and an avid Twainiac....I loved the
book.
 Yes, some students, and I'm talking high school level here, would be bored
to death with anything but a a Spider Man film, but if we teach only to that
pathetic level of our population....well, we have surrendered completely.
"Innocents" is truly 19th century literature, but it's refreshingly modern
in it's
insights, and historically interesting in many ways....the interlude with
the
Russian monarchy, for example.  It's been years since I've read it, but the
adventure while stealing grapes after breaking the law and sneaking into an
area
put off limits for reason of contagion, or the reference to having missed
the
chance of a lifetime when he passed the Emperor of France in the Bois de
Boulogne because he had left his hand gun in his hotel....I mean come
on...this is
meaningful even today.  I think.  I think I'll read it again.

David DePauw