At the height of his fame, Mark Twain, the great writer and humorist from Missouri, was facing financial ruin from one of his failed business ventures. Broke but much loved he embarked on a money-raising lecture tour around the equator, making a stop in Australia. The Wayward Tourist republishes Mark Twain's Australian travel writing in which he recounts impressions of Sydney ('God made the Harbor a but Satan made Sydney') and his view of Australian history ('[it reads] like the most beautiful lies'). In his introduction, Don Watson brilliantly pays homage to America's 'funny man' who brought his swagger, love of language and wicked talent for observation to our shores.