Mark Twain 50 min read

Playing gracious host in the sixth century, the Yankee stages a feast of small modern luxuries, and a lesson in economics.

In this installment of Twain's 1889 classic, Hank Morgan overwhelms a peasant family with such unheard-of extravagances as wheat, salt, and a dinner table, using the moment to needle medieval notions of wealth and worth. Read it for Twain's comedy of manners with a satirical economics lecture folded inside.

In its time

Published in 1889, during the 1880s, lost races and dying earths.

Reading it

50 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).