Puddn'head WilsonSet in a town on the Mississippi during the pre-Civil War era, Pudd'nhead Wilson centers its plot around a deception of switched identities involving a child born free and a child born slave. It is a novel of biting social commentary and enduring relevance. It is also a melodrama and a murder mystery, and it introduces one of the author's most delightful characters: Pudd'nhead Wilson, and intellectual with a penchant for amateur detection....

"A Tramp Abroad" is a work of travel literature, including a mixture of autobiography and fictional events, by American author Mark Twain, published in 1880. The book details a journey by the author, with his friend Harris (a character created for the book, and based on his closest friend, Joseph Twichell), through central and southern Europe. While the stated goal of the journey is to walk most of the way, the men find themselves using other forms...