The Last American
 A Fragment from The Journal of Khan-li, Prince of Dimph-Yoo-Chur and Admiral in the Persian Navy

by John Ames Mitchell

"The Last American" by John Ames Mitchell is a short illustrated novel published in 1889. In the year 2951, a Persian explorer named Khan-Li sails across the Atlantic and rediscovers America, long abandoned after devastating climatic changes began around 1960. Through Khan-Li's journal entries, the novel offers a satirical view of late 19th-century American society as misunderstood by future archaeologists. The Persians piece together a distorted history from ruins and artifacts, finding evidence of social upheavals and the mysterious "Murphy Dynasty" that ruled America's final decades.