One of Twain’s most celebrated novellas, ‘The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg’ is a satirical retelling of the Garden of Eden story in the Bible, in which the author, mocking the supposed honesty and incorruptibility of the inhabitants of an imaginary American town, shows how man is fundamentally bad and cannot resist the temptations of gold. This collection also includes another acclaimed novella, ‘A Double-Barrelled Detective Story’, a spoof of the mystery genre featuring Sherlock Holmes in the American West, as well as lesser-known narratives such as ‘The Belated Russian Passport’ and ‘The Death Disk’.Together, these tales are a testament to Twain’s inexhaustible gift for invention and his skills as a storyteller.