Europe Revised

Irvin S. Cobb arrives at the pier with three suitcases, a guidebook he intends to ignore, and the unshakable conviction that he is about to have an adventure. Europe Revised is a pre-WWI travelogue that refuses to take itself seriously. Rather than burdening readers with dates, distances, and cathedral heights, Cobb offers something far more valuable: his frankly confessed inability to cope with modern travel, his bewildered encounters with fellow passengers, and his running commentary on the peculiar rituals of transatlantic crossing. He lands on the ship already ill, attributes his seasickness to 'climate fever' with complete confidence, and proceeds to catalog the remarkable characters around him: the English gentleman who walks in circles, the honeymooners who suffer more than he does, and the endless parade of Americans trying to appear cosmopolitan while clearly longing for home. Cobb's wit is generous rather than cutting, observing the absurdities of cultural performance on both sides of the Atlantic with the delight of a man who knows he's part of the comedy. For readers who miss the Age of Innocence, this book is a time machine dressed as a joke.