Some of these stories/essays were serious and some humorous, but I am beginning to learn that Twain always starts with a kernel of truth no matter how outrageous his writing. For example, I laughed at the story of the people who killed and then got off scot-free by claiming temporary insanity, although the final story of the maid who killed her mistress and was condemned although clearly crazy was a macabre ending. I figured the whole thing was a spoof on what it would be like if our juries were to let rich people off murder charges for such idiotic reasons. Then, while reading the footnotes to his autobiography, volume I, discover that there was an actual case where a rich young man saw an editor who had maligned him in print, pulled out a gun, and shot him dead on the street. He went to trial, claimed temporary insanity, and was released. Whew! I couldn't believe our jury system was ever that retarded, but evidently so. There are numerous stories in this book gently poking fun at politics, juries, Twain himself, and so on. I read it over the course of many months since there are such great places to take a break in a book of this sort, and I think that made me enjoy it even more.