by Mark Twain
The $30,000 Bequest provides a rare long view of Twain's work, covering virtually his entire career, from "Advice to Young Girls" to the title story, written in 1904. Whether he is probing the dynamics of a marriage in "The $30,000 Bequest," or tapping into the nature of hierarchies of abusive power in "A Dog's Tale,". "The Danger of Lying in Bed," in which Twain argues--complete with statistics--that lying in bed (where most deaths occur) is more dangerous than traveling.