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