Mark Twain is one of the most famous names in American literature. Read more about the life and works of Mark Twain, including "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," "Innocents Abroad," and other works.
1. The Singular Mark Twain
by Fred Kaplan. Doubleday. From the publisher: "'The Singular Mark Twain' presents the first fully integrated portrait of this great American icon. Fred Kaplan shows definitively that Twain's ferociously progressive ideas about race informed all his later works and absolve him from absurd charges of racism laid in recent years."
2. The Autobiography of Mark Twain
by Mark Twain, and Charles Neider (Editor). HarperCollins. Charles Neider writes, "Mark Twain's autobiography is a classic of American letters, to be ranked with the autobiographies of Benjamin Franklin and Henry Adams.... It has the marks of greatness in it--style, scope, imagination, laughter, tragedy."
3. Mark Twain: An Illustrated Biography
by Geoffrey C. Ward. Knopf. From the publisher: "This book pulls together material from a variety of published and unpublished sources. It examines not merely his justly famous novels, stories, travelogues, and lectures, but also his diaries, letters, and 275 illustrations and photographs from throughout his life."4. Mark and Livy: The Love Story of Mark Twain and the Woman Who Almost Tamed Him
by Resa Willis. Routledge. From the publisher: "Until now, little has been known about Livy's role in Twain's life; after reading Resa Willis's book, it is clear how important she was. With a new introduction by the author, 'Mark and Livy' is a triumph of the biographer's art, and essential to a full understanding of America's foremost writer."
5. Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography
by Justin Kaplan. Simon & Schuster. From the publisher: "With brilliant immediacy, 'Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain' brings to life a towering literary figure whose dual personae symbolized the emerging American conflict between down-to-earth morality and freewheeling ambition."6. Dangerous Water: A Biography of the Boy Who Became Mark Twain
by Ron Powers. DaCapo Press. From the publisher: "Twain's early years were a decidedly un-innocent time, marked by deaths of friends and family and his father's bankruptcy. Twain dealt with those personal tragedies through humor and the tall tale."7. Mark Twain and Orion Clemens: Brothers, Partners, Strangers
by Philip Ashley Fanning, and Alan Gribben. Univ. of Alabama Press. From the publisher: "Mark Twain - our nation's greatest writer and a national icon. This provocative account will forever change the way we see him. Philip Ashley Fanning's history of the fractious fraternal relationship between Twain and his older brother, Orion Clemens, reveals that Orion's influence on Twain's life and writing was profound."8. Hatching Ruin
by Charles H. Gold. Univ. of Missouri Press. From the publisher: "In 'Hatching Ruin,' Charles H. Gold provides a complete description of Samuel L. Clemens's business relationships with Charles L. Webster and James W. Paige during the 1880s. Gold analyzes how these relationships affected Clemens as a person and an artist, most notably in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The 1880s were a time when Samuel Clemens was more businessman than author. Clemens wanted to be rich."9. Mark Twain: A Literary Life
by Everett Emerson. From the publisher: "In reporting the author's life, Emerson has endeavored to permit Mark Twain to tell his own story as much as possible, through the use of letters and autobiographical writings, some previously unpublished. These fascinating glimpses into the life of the writer will be of interest to all who have an abiding affection for Samuel Clemens and his extraordinary legacy."10. Life on the Mississippi
by Mark Twain, Justin Kaplan (Introduction). Signet. From the publisher: "The Mississippi River and Mark Twain are practically synonymous in American culture. Known as 'America's river,' the popularity of Twain's steamboat and steamboat pilots on the ever-changing Mississippi has endured prominently over the years."