Throughout the book, Twain uses the opportunity of visiting the various locations on his tour to espouse "perceptive descriptions and discussions of people, climate, flora and fauna, indigenous cultures, religion, customs, politics, food, and many other topics". The book contains a significant amount of
social commentary, although much of it is done in a
satirical manner. Although this social commentary is the great import of the book, it is notable that Twain also included a number of fictional stories in the body of what is otherwise a non-fiction work. In particular, the story of how
Cecil Rhodes made his fortune – by finding a newspaper in the belly of a shark – and the story of how a man named Ed Jackson made good in life out of a fake letter of introduction to
Cornelius Vanderbilt, were anthologized in Charles Neider (ed)
The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain, (Doubleday, 1957) where they are presented as fiction. ==Notes==