Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great, but why not get a collection?
"Eve's Diary" is one of the most famous and notable entries in Mark Twain's series purporting to be the diaries of Adam and Eve. Like the others, it is a different take on the classic story; both humorous and thought-provoking, it recreates the famous scene with surprising plausibility and is very enjoyable. This begins somewhat more light-heartedly than the related stories, and is indeed quite funny, but ends with one of the most powerfully affecting love meditations ever. It is hard to read without a tear, and anyone who has ever loved will be profoundly touched. Often seen as a tribute to Twain's recently deceased wife, this is a small masterpiece. Anyone interested in Twain should read it, especially those who enjoyed related pieces, and it is highly recommended for anyone interested in Genesis - and indeed for everyone, as its core element is the most universal of human feelings. Though well worth reading in itself, it is available in collections - The Bible According to Mark Twain, etc. - alongside related pieces and many other works, making a standalone hard to justify.

Mark Twain is a god of American Literature.
I recommend almost any Mark Twain writings, and the Diary's of Adam and Eve are two of my favorites.Twain did a miraculous job of creating an almost perfect idea of what Adam and Eve must have been really thinking if they actually thought like men and women.
Funny, sweet, and good-natured, this is a good tale for both young and old. ... Read more

Product Description
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 2. is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Don't Bother Downloading this Edition - Part 7 of 10 is Missing
This book is parted out into 10 sections. Unfortunately part 7 cannot be found anywhere on Amazon so don't start with this edition. There's another Kindle edition for $.99 (ASIN: B001B14VHA) that comes as a single download. This is really a great book for boys and well worth $.99.

Each of the 10 parts is about 50 pages. Format looks fine on a Kindle (I use the smallest font).

Missing Section
This is a wonderful tale that reads as pleasurably today as when it wad written. Unfortunately, section 7 is missing entirely so you will find yourself haaving to pay for the book when neraly at the end. ... Read more

Product Description
Quotes and Images From The Works of Mark Twain is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 1. is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Don't Bother Downloading this Edition - Part 7 of 10 is Missing
This book is parted out into 10 sections. Unfortunately part 7 cannot be found anywhere on Amazon so don't start with this edition. There's another Kindle edition for $.99 (ASIN: B001B14VHA) that comes as a single download. This is really a great book for boys and well worth $.99.

Each of the 10 parts is about 50 pages. Format looks fine on a Kindle (I use the smallest font). ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Short Stories and Some Anecdotal Humor
When I purchased this book, I was expecting a collection of short stories, and if that was all it was, I would have been most pleased.As is, this book contains a couple of very entertaining short stories, including the one mentioned in the title, along with a great ending about Adam and Eve, as well as a lot of ancedotes about all sorts of things.

If you are a fan of Mark Twain, I would highly recommend this collection, especially if you are more of the student.The ancedotal material contains a lot of insight into Samuel Clemons, as well as his transition to the writer, Mark Twain.I found it overall to be a bit more than I wanted to get into, as most of the ancedotes could have been trimmed down significantly.However, I somehow managed to finish it, and was overall much impressed.I found myself thinking of Leno and Carson in regards to a lot of his observations from local papers which he found humorous.Certainly, American humor in general, owes quite a lot to Mark Twain, and this collection is certainly a fine example of that.

I would detract a star for the length and complexity with which he explores certain topics, which I found to be overexploiting the humorous context.In other words, it seemed, at times, he didn't know when to quit.

Generally, a good read, a great skim, and a priceless gem for true Twain fans. ... Read more

Product Description

Here are more than 1,800 quotations, organized from A-to-Z, from America's consummate author--Mark Twain.A must-have for all Twain collectors, The Quotable Mark Twain is filled with his opinions about the people he knew, the places he's been, and the books he wrote, as well as more far-ranging topics, such as writers, billiards, smoking, his family, and more.The book also includes 150 illustrations taken from the original editions of Twain's publications, source citations for each quotation, an annotated bibliography, and a complete index.Amazon.com Review
From the author of the encyclopedic Mark Twain A to Zcomes Mark Twain, accident ("the greatest of all the inventors") toZola ("The manliest man in France"). This is certainly not the firstcompilation of Twain witticisms. Nor is it the second or third. But ofthe 1,800-plus quotations included in The Quotable Mark Twain,more than half do not appear in any other collection. This is becausethe book's editor, R. Kent Rasmussen, is a committed Twain-ophile whohas read and reread nearly everything Twain ever wrote. In these pagesRasmussen offers up Twain's trenchant and provocative words on suchwide-ranging subjects as fried chicken ("the art cannot be learnednorth of the line of Mason and Dixon, nor anywhere in Europe"),Hinduism ("It is a good and gentle religion, but inconvenient"), themultiplication table ("that odious and confusing and unvanquishableand unlearnable and shameless invention"), and stealing ("It is betterto take what does not belong to you than to let it lie aroundneglected"). A browser's bonanza.--Jane Steinberg ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Memory book
My friend who is in a nursing home, and who has fond memories of receiving from her mother-in-law a book of Mark Twain's stories, has shared memories with me of reading Mark Twain to her children - hence the gift of the above-mentioned book of Mark Twain's quotes.Delightful all the way around.

Great Collection! I have enjoyed it very much
This is a very concise collection of quotes, easy to find quotes. I highly recommend it.

Mark Twain - Timeless Book - As Important as Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn
I love this book and use it often, especially when posting quotes on my Twitter profile.I am able to properly quote Twain, providing context and date of quote, thereby getting more read for each quote.

The more I read this book, the more I realize the value of Twain's experience and his words.Although not schooled, Twain is by far one of the most educated personalities in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

His extensive travels around the world and around the US allowed him to come up with witty yet profound truths about people, life and nature, along with a plethora of other subjects, ranging from Alligators to Zeus...

A great bed time book and wonderful reference companion. ... Read more

Product Description
Roughing It, Part 1. is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
Following the Equator - Part 1 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 06 to 10 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

What a rip off...
Acutally, I was really enjoying reading Mark Twain in bite sized niblets, but all of the sudden all my dreams were shattered.Now I realize that there is no 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Chapters 11 to 15.'I have to get the entire book now.Farewell nuggets of good Twain.I enjoyed you well.

This particular tale includes Huck's Escape, basically.You could call it Huck's escape, if you needed a title.The only funny thing is this mini book ends with Huck cross dressing, and 'trying to remember he's a girl.'What a totally wacked out way of splitting this book which weren't never mint t'be split in the ferst place.Woops.Can you tell I've been reading Twain? ... Read more

Product Description
Samuel Clemens, the man known as Mark Twain, invented the American voice and became one of our greatest celebrities. His life mirrored his country's, as he grew from a Mississippi River boyhood in the days of the frontier, to a Wild-West journalist during the Gold Rush, to become the king of the eastern establishment and a global celebrity as America became an international power. Along the way, Mark Twain keenly observed the characters and voices that filled the growing country, and left us our first authentically American literature. Ron Powers's magnificent biography offers the definitive life of the founding father of our culture.Amazon.com Review
Mark Twain grew up with America. Born in 1835, he reached adulthood as the country was expanding and threatening to splinter all at once. Along with his towering talent and personality, his timing and instinct for finding the action allowed him to play a major role in pushing the boundaries of American culture and mythology by creating a new approach to literature. "Breaching the ranks of New England literary culture was Clemens's most important achievement (short of his actual works), and a signal liberating event in the country's imaginative history," writes Ron Powers in this dazzling biography. Not only did he observe and chronicle this cultural shift, he participated in it, allowing him to report "from the yeasty perspective of the common man." While still Sam Clemens, he worked as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River and experienced the Wild West of the Nevada Territory as a miner, land prospector, and newspaperman. Later, while still the people's champion, he married into wealth and ran with the moneyed class of the Gilded Age--until his money ran out--and toured the world meeting with the famous and powerful at every stop. He was, as Powers puts it, "the nation's first rock star." But Twain was more than just a writer and Powers strives to cover all sides of this complex man. Employing an approach he calls "interpretive portraiture," he explores Twain's personal relations, temperament, religious skepticism, and psychology as closely as his written work. He discusses Twain's zeal for life along with his "chronic insecurity," and describes how this eternally optimistic and forward-looking man was prone to spells of nihilism and despair. Powers is a talented and lively writer clearly up to the task of covering this American legend, and his book vividly and thoroughly explains why Twain was "the representative figure of his nation and his century." --Shawn Carkonen ... Read more

Customer Reviews (35)

A fine clear eyed biography of Mark Twain
Born Samuel Clemens, this lad grew up to be known throughout the world as "Mark Twain." His life was a rollercoaster, with great successes and great failure. His personal life underwent much tragedy, as he lost two of his three e daughters before his own death. His creative well went largely dry in his later years, while he continued turning out manuscript page after manuscript page.

This book does a nice job tracing the arc of his life from childhood, most famously in Hannibal, Missouri, to his effort to create his own career (for a time as a riverboat pilot), to his abortive career as a soldier in Missouri, to his trip west to make his mark, to. . . .

His life was rich and full--even as he experienced failure (some of his speaking tours went bust, whereas others were grand successes; he wasted a fortune on failed inventions--going bankrupt, in essence, later in his life). He was beloved by many, made friends with major figures of the day--but could easily insult people, lose his temper, and turn his back on associates.

His wife, Livy, was his partner for many years. This book also suggests very briefly here and there that Isabel Lyon and Laura Wright (later Dake) had little known roles in his life. The latter sounds innocent. The former? So little is mentioned here that that story remains in the shadows.

The story of how he created his works, from Tom Sawyer to Huck Finn and so on, is well told. The book describes nicely the early years of his writing career, as a reporter, then as a humorist, and then the evolution toward a major author. What makes this work especially interesting is the exposition of Twain's somewhat mercurial nature and his interactions with those around them. He could be hard on people; he could also be the most loyal of friends.

His last years, rather sad at that, are well described. All in all, a fine biography of an American icon. . . .

Author's opinions interfere
This book COULD have been great. Biographies are my favorite genre and I've read a bunch of them - this one falls pretty flat. The author's biases are so clearly obvious he's almost a presence in the book himself, which is distracting even if you agree with his views, and irritating if you don't. Forget Mark Twain's religious bias, the author's anti-Christian stance shines through even stronger, such as the statement that Mormons were just waiting for the Union to dissolve so that they could rise to power - and he sticks it to the Presbyterians just as badly, even misrepresenting Job from the Bible. His anti-capitalism, left-leaning political opinions come through just as clearly.

The book gives us a nice picture of the times and events in the places Sam Clemens lived - New York, San Fransisco, Carson City, etc - which is interesting in itself. But even those glimpses into American life at the time are tainted by the author's opinions. A good biographer doesn't make himself obvious in his books; he shouldn't intrude at all. Ron Powers is not a good biographer and I will not be reading any more of his books.

Entertaining portrait not only of Twain but of his times
I hadn't thought about Mark Twain in a while and picked up this biography somewhat at random. Then I thought it might be interesting to read about his days working on a steamboat on the Mississippi River. I couldn't put the book down, read it in two nights. I'm still thinking about it a week later. One of the best biographies I've read.

It could have been a 5
An excellent biography marred by gratuitous left wing political commentary. I don't know why Mr. Powers decided to sprinkle those little gems throughout the text, given that they add absolutely nothing, but I wish he'd respected his subject--and his readers--enough not to intrude. If I'd wanted Powers' political views, I'd have sought out a book about him. If you can ignore the author's trespassing, it is a worthwhile read.

Excellent
This book provides important insights into Mark Twain and his life and times. It should part of the reading list in any course that spends time on Mark Twain's writings. ... Read more

Product Description
This unique '10 books in 1' edition of Mark Twain's original works contains the following complete books: 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer', 'Huckleberry Finn', 'Tom Sawyer Abroad', 'Tom Sawyer, Detective', 'Life On The Mississippi', 'The Prince and The Pauper', 'The Tradegy Of Pudd'nhead Wilson', 'A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court', 'Roughing It' and 'Following The Equator'. These are classic works which have delighted generations of American children and adults alike. An ideal gift for any fan of the wit and wisdom of Mark Twain. The entire set is available in this single, great value, edition! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Who Doesn't Love Mark Twain?
The prospect of having 10 books in one (and not having to pay for each) was so appealing, but the reality was a bit different; the page format is odd - two columns per page. The book is large and heavy - so I couldn't read it in bed. Since I needed to read many of Twain's books for a course at Stanford University, I decided to go easy on the budget, but I've since decided that I will purchase separate high quality versions of the books that I really enjoy and intend to reread multiple times.

Beware of text!
This book is encyclopedic in nature, not for casual reading or enjoyment. The text is dense on the page, four columns across, minimal margins, miniscule font! And the book is heavy. For the student looking for a one-stop-shop volume.If you want to read Twain for pleasure, try a different format.

What Could Be Better?
This is not for the modern reader who likes to skim through as slick story. For the avid reader who still appreciates great word-smithing, bitingly funny humor, and gut wrenching pathos - Twain will always be the master.

Christina Britton Conroy, author of ONE MAN'S MUSIC

Very good but tiny print
This is an excellent book with complete novels not abridged.But the print is tiny and layed out like a manuscript which makes it a challenge to read.

Large! - good value
A really big book, 10 works in one. Ideal for long journeys (which Twain took a few of himself!). ... Read more

Product Description
Mark Twain's Letters - Volume 1 (1835-1866) is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
A humorist, narrator, and social observer, Mark Twain is unsurpassed in American literature. Best known as the author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, not unlike his protagonist, Huck, has a restless spirit. He found adventure prospecting for silver in Nevada, navigating steamboats down the Mississippi, and making people laugh around the world. But Twain also had a serious streak and decried racism and injustice. His fascinating life is captured candidly in this enjoyable biography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Granddaughter enjoyed reading about Mark Twain's life.
I bought this book for my 8-year-old granddaughter because she had been reading some of Mark Twain's stories which had been edited for younger readers, and my daughter told me that she was really enjoying them.Here is her review of "Who Was Mark Twain?".
Dear Grandma,
I really loved the book about Mark Twain.It was kind of sad towards the end, but that kind of gave the moral to the story.In the old times, people got very sick.I liked the beginning especially, because it told about when Mark Twain was a boy.I learned about Halley's Comet.It was fun and interesting.His stories were based on his own life.So now you can see that I liked it a lot!!
Thank you for giving me this book.It was great!
Love,
Laurel

Eye Catching and Easy to read book!
This book has excellent content about Mark Twain with an interesting twist of illustrations to keep the reader interested! The text is large and easy to read! Kids will love reading about the interesting life of Mark Twain!!

Great Book!
I bought this book for my 10 year old reluctant reader.Most of the time she'll only read a few pages of chapter books.This book she didn't put down until she had read the whole thing!I will definately be buying more books in the " Who is...?"series!

Good Overview of Mark Twains Life.
I enjoyed this book because I found out a great deal of important information about Mark Twain in a way that was easy to read and understand. I think this book is great at getting children interested in this famous author. I enjoyed the pictures as they showed the images of that time period. I also liked that there were maps and background information about historical events during Mark Twains life.

... Read more

Product Description
This title has fewer than 24 printed text pages.

Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

English Majors, Authors and Newspaper Hacks Take Note
This is by far the best essay on bad writing ever written. More offensive to nature than the bad writer is the "important" writer who uses bloated language, stylistic conceits without reason and obscure, inexact and unnecessary words and constructions. Twain picked (or picked on) James Fenimore Cooper for this little essay -- Cooper was at the time a "major" American author -- and his writing is still taught in schools and universities. Many of Cooper's lesser 19th century contemporaries engaged in the same overblown writing excesses, but Cooper was and is the best known from that period. In picking Cooper, Twain was essentially shooting a tuna fish in a barrel. Their writing styles could not have been more different. Twain had one foot in the 20th century, while Cooper had both feet in the 18th century.

Perhaps I am being too harsh. Read the Leatherstocking Tales, then Twain's essay and you decide.

Let's just say that I garnered nary a chuckle from Cooper, but laughed until I choked at Twain's essay.

Skewers James Fenimore Cooper, and boy, did he have it coming!
Nearly 20 years ago I saw the movie The Last of the Mohicans (Director's Expanded Edition). I knew it was probably not too much like the books, but I was inspired to read James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales I; The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie (Library of America), a collection of his work featuring Natty Bumpo (Hawkeye) and I found them to be horrible. Not just bad, but darn near unreadable.

Now, note that I am a top reviewer here at Amazon. I love books, but I hate this author even though I love American history (I am a history teacher), I love fronteir stories and I was certainly pre-disposed to like his works. But, I've always kept my opinions to myself, despite the fact that he had one sentence that lasted more than two pages describing a banquet table that featured a near endless string of semi-colons.

Until now.

If Mark Twain, the quintessential American writer finds Cooper wordy, clunky and darn near unreadable (to be specific, Twain calls his work "a crime against the English language"), than I can proudly say that I too find James Fenimore Cooper to be a hack.

Of course, Twain says it much better. His sarcasm is laser sharp. He is merciless and I laughed out loud. Twain at his best, especially if you are familiar with Cooper.

Mark Twain Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences
This is a humorous look at Cooper's work and some of the stretch's of imagination that Cooper use's to tell his stories. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Mark Twain's Own Story
"Mark Twain's Own Autobiography" consists of a collection of anecdotal reminiscences dictated by Twain over a period of years.In it the reader will get a sense of the facts of his life and the emotions which flowed out of his life and on to the pages.
More than a real autobiography, this is more Twain storytelling, with himself as a main subject.The wit which we love in his novels we will enjoy in this book.Sit back, read and enjoy.

Only for a fan of S.Clemens
I checked this book out of the library two months ago (woops!)and although it did not compel me to voraciously read it through beginning to end, it does quietly beckon to finish his story.I love Samuel Clemens and the way he looked at life. He made outrageous statements concerning people and God, and often irreverent. I'm a Christian and probably should be offended, but I'm not. The reader can see in his books, the quieter search for truth and spirituality. This autobiography is one of them. In his own words.."this autobiography of mine does not select from my life its showy episodes, but deals mainly in the common experiences which go to make up the life of the average human being." His softer side is exposed when discussing his children and thier questions. His young daughters were not jaded and cynical in thier approach to the meaning of life and God, so it often threw him off guard when trying to answer them. He is considered to be the great writers/satirists of American history, and yet he exposes his weaknesses and insecurities readily.He makes the ordinary, unknown man feel comfortable in his "presence". Mr. Clemens had a keen sense of the human ego..he knew that when most people recollect their past, famous and non, they tend to glorify and embellish thier success and justify what wasn't. Often when he is recalling stories, he will finish them with "events which...I have imagined have happened to me" or "Now, then, that is the tale. Some of it is true." Love that!

I also appreciate the fact that Michael Kiskis did not interject his commentary throughout the autobiography (like many commentators do.) He made the distinction between his writing and Twain's clear. His was a simple introduction and follow-up of notes.

It's probably a slow-read, but I recommend it to anyone that wanted to become better aquainted with Samuel Clemens and his life story!

Welcome insights.
Here is Twain in his own voice;humorous, cantankerous, opinionated, sometimes historically unreliable, but always engaging, and, unlike almost all of his contemporaries, fun to read.
He went everywhere and seems to have met everyone of consequence in his day, and he reports all with his reporter's eye (and imaginative gifts!).He was also a dedicated family man who, sadly, outlived most of his loved ones, and this work may be seen in part as a memorial to them.The sadness, suffused with joyful recollections,does not detract from the overall entertainment and enlightenment value of the work, which is highly recommended for anyone interested in Twain or the literary world of the nineteenth century.
(The numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon"s format.This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.) ... Read more

Product Description
One day in late 1906, seventy-one-year-old Mark Twain attended a meeting on copyright law at the Library of Congress. The arrival of the famous author caused the usual stir—but then Twain took off his overcoat to reveal a "snow-white" tailored suit and scandalized the room. His shocking outfit appalled and delighted his contemporaries, but far more than that, as Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Shelden shows in this wonderful new biography, Twain had brilliantly staged this act of showmanship to cement his image, and his personal legend, in the public's imagination. That afternoon in Washington, less than four years before his death, marked the beginning of a vibrant, tumultuous period in Twain's life that would shape much of the now-famous image by which he has come to be known—America's indomitable icon, the Man in White.

Although Mark Twain has long been one of our most beloved literary figures—Time magazine has declared him "our original superstar"—his final years have been largely misunderstood. Despite family tragedies, Twain's last half- decade was among the most dynamic periods in the author's life. With the spirit and vigor of a man fifty years younger, he continued to stir up trouble, perfecting his skill for living large. Writing ceaselessly and always ready with one of his legendary quips, Twain would risk his fortune, become the willing victim of a lost-at-sea hoax, and pick fights with King Leopold of Belgium and Mary Baker Eddy.

Drawing on a number of unpublished sources, including Twain's own journals, letters, and a revealing four-hundred-page personal account kept under wraps for decades (and still yet to be published), Mark Twain: Man in White brings the legendary author's twilight years vividly to life, offering surprising insights, including an intimate, tender look at his family life. Filled with first-rate scholarship, rare and never-published Twain photos, delightful anecdotes, and memorable quotes, including numerous recovered Twainisms, this definitive biography of Twain's last years provides a remarkable portrait of the man himself and of the unforgettable era in American letters that, in many ways, he helped to create. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

A Wonderful Surprise
I was pleasantly surprised when I read this latest book on Mark Twain.I heard Michael Shelden interviewed on NPR and decided I had to read it.I watched Ken Burns amazing biography of Twain and was left with the impression that Twain had become very self centered, sarcastic and ambivalent about his children in his old age.A few years ago, I visited his beautiful home in Hartford, CT and came away with the same conclusion.Especially, after seeing the photo of Twain wearing his Oxford cap and gown at his daughter Clara's wedding.I thought to myself: "How self centered"?

Professor Shelden's incredible telling of the story of Twain's last years, primarily between 1906 and 1910 changed all that for me.I laughed out loud at Twain's one liners and wit many times throughout this book. Twain may very well have been living his finest moments during this time period. It is very easy for me to see why he was "the most popular man in America" at the turn of the 20th Century. His devotion to causes of charity and concern for the lives of those less fortunate is very moving.

However, the best part of this book is how Shelden immerses the reader into the time period of the book.I actually felt like I was in H.H. Rogers office in the Standard Oil Building.His descriptions of interiors and exteriors of buildings, ships quarters and train passages made me feel as if I was standing there witnessing every aspect of this story.It also intrigued me to realize how little difference there is between people in 1910 and 2010.The same insecurities, emotions, politics and anger.The comparison of today's financial crisis to the "Knickerbocker bank rush" of Twain's period is beyond frightening and reminds one of how history "repeats itself".

I don't think I have read a better book of non-fiction about a historical character since "On Undaunted Courage".Both books took me right back to the time of their primary characters.I could not put this book down and I certainly did not want it to end. I will be waiting for Michael Shelden's next book with open arms.

MARK TWAIN THE MAN IN WHITE IS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ!!!
I cried and laughed so hard I thought my insides would burst.Who would think that over a hundred years after his death, one could even think of listening or reading a story about Mark Twain?Obviously his literary contributions will always live on; however, the man behind the white suit gives way to more than a literary genius of his own time.He is alive in the twenty-first century!

In my heart of hearts I never thought that I could experience emotion related to a human being that just happened to be a great writer.I almost didn't read this book because I thought that I knew who Samuel Clemens really was.I was mistaken.Mark Twain was one of a kind that comes along once every hundred years.With technology the way it is today I am still searching for that second Mark Twain, the man.I don't think if I lived to be a thousand years old there will ever be another person that could even come close to this great genius.

He makes me proud to be an American.I only wish his incredible story of his last four years of life could be read by every High School and College student world-wide.Don't be afraid to read a story that took place in what seems to be another place at another time. And it was...but it is also a story that seemed as if it was taking place now.

If Mark Twain lived today, he would still be a literary star.Have you ever asked yourself the question;If you could meet one person in history...dead or alive...who it would be?After years of my own soul searching, I have at least figured out the answer for myself.That individual would be MARK TWAIN.

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK.You will be a better human being for doing so! I would like to thank the Author, Michael Shelden, for giving this gift to me.I would also like to thank Mr. Sheledon for personally sending me an autographed picture to attach to the best book I have ever read...MARK TWAIN, THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT.

Steve

Mark Twain's vivid final years
In "Mark Twain: Man in White: The Grand Adventure of His Final Years," Michael Shelden chronicles the energetic end of a life marked by vitality, wit and creation of a mountain of unequalled homegrown literature--including what many (including myself) believe to be the greatest American novel, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Up until the end Twain continued to travel, write, snipe, and make mischief at the expense of the anointed.

Released in early 2010, the book follows three other Shelden literary biographies: on Cyril Connolly and Graham Greene and the Pulitzer Prize finalist "Orwell: The Authorized Biography," which I enjoyed immensely some years ago.

In this biography we see Twain, now in his seventies, still rearranging his domestic affairs, building a new country home for himself and his daughters; we glimpse him donning his iconic white suit for the first time to lobby convincingly in Washington for new copyright laws; and we spend time with him in New York, London, Bermuda and other destinations, his curiosity, intellectuality and sharp sense of humor always engaged.

For example, when his closest friend, Standard Oil magnate Henry H. (Hell Hound) Rogers, learned that, after protracted litigation, his company was fined a record $29 million for an illegal rebate scheme, Twain noted that it reminded him of the June bride's comment after her wedding night: "I expected it but didn't suppose it would be so big."

Now a widower, Twain was free of his beloved wife Livy's tempering influence on his work and his conduct--about which his two surviving daughters were worried and cautioning. But he was no fool and plotted to set off literary explosions from the grave, pouring his most iconoclastic and heretical thoughts into his autobiography and other works to be published only after his death.

While Shelden's meticulously researched and footnoted book deals necessarily with Twain's domestic travails (and they were ample, including a plot by trusted aides to rob him of his wealth and an attempt by actual burglars to do so while he slept), part of its interest lies in its portrait of American life a century ago. Twain interacted with Woodrow Wilson (then a mere academic), literary icon William Dean Howells, Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy (albeit contentiously, at a distance), and other political, literary and public players of the time. One is struck by how much the country--and the world--has changed over the past century, for better and worse.

More important for me, however, was the book's bringing me closer to my fellow Missourian, and sending me off to dig deeper into unread veins of Twain's vast literary treasure.

A Final Few Years With the "Real" Twain.
~Interesting, not-so-ordinary bio on only the last several years of one of the world's best known writers. It helps us understand the authentic Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) and shreds any long-held mental pictures we might have of him as a poor, frumpy, small town, cantankerous-but-humorous author whose interests covered letter and book writing, piloting riverboats, cave hunting, typesetting, fence-painting, friend-making, traveling and jawing with the neighbors.

If we think of Twain only this way, we find we've got just half of the picture. Author Shelden reveals him instead as all-adult...an often well-to-do (but sometimes broke), sensitive, investing, lecturing, writing, smoking over-seas traveler, who didn't mind a downing drink or entertaining a woman every now and again. He prized being around influential people like bankers, publishers, oil magnates, politicians and theatre performers.

~And so, we learn, Mark Twain's hardly just a small-town character with ink and a pen. He had big ideas. In fact, he got used to staying in expensive, over-size dwellings (mostly) in New York state. [Were he alive and well today, on the road, Motel 6 would hardly be his overnight stay of choice.] Wherever he called "home" during most of his life, he was always a good distance from home-town Hannibal, Missouri.

Unfortunately, the book offers us far more about those around him than we might want, as this reader was expecting considerably more about Twain himself. Although surely not unimportant in providing a full picture, there's quite a bit about the housekeeper, bookkeeper, Twain's daughters, wife, close friends, and even his enemies...but Shelden always sneaks him back in to the current chronology just in time to keep the story interesting.

The book glows with interest and magnetism whenever it follows Twain. It moves like a fox hot on the trail.... ~But it slows to a crawl each time it details the thoughts and actions of the many (major and minor) players involved in his life. ~And that, as it turns out, is a lot of narrative. Though author Shelden provides a clear, real-life picture of Twain, sometimes these lengthy personal anecdotes seem out of place, even unrelated.

~But all in all, we learn things about Sam Clemens we didn't know before. ~Like what about that familiar white suit we dress him in whenever we think: "Mark Twain"? There's a (good) story behind it, and the book tells it well. ~A worthy read for those meeting Mark Twain for the first time...but especially compelling for anyone who's followed Twain's works over his years. Nicely done, Mr. Shelden!

Twain's Last, Vibrantly Funny Years
If you picture in your mind Mark Twain, you probably see him in a white suit.There are a few reasons for this.One is that as a beloved celebrity, Mark Twain was photographed many times, and his white suit became part of his image forever.But the other more important reason that the white suit makes such an impression is simply that he wanted it to do so.In his last years, writes Michael Shelden in the delightful biography of that period, _Mark Twain: Man In White: The Grand Adventure of his Final Years_, Twain's ambition "...was to get the world's attention and to keep it."There is even a date when the old man brought his white suit onto the world's stage, 7 December 1906.He was 71 years old, and he came to a meeting at the Library of Congress about a subject in which he had deep interest, copyright law.He entered the chamber while wearing his dark overcoat, and all the lobbyists, lawyers, and publishers there turned toward him; Twain caused a stir almost everywhere he went.And then he took off his overcoat, and caused a sensation."Among so many soberly dressed fellows in black and gray," writes Shelden, "he stood out as a gleaming apparition, impossible to ignore."The newspapers the next day wrote of little else about the meeting; it was quite a sensation, and it was such an unusual thing to do that Twain's household tried to get him to dress more sensibly.They didn't often succeed.

Twain did things his own way, sometimes to his detriment, through his last years.He enjoyed being an institution, and he enjoyed using his position to prod or discomfort those with whom he disagreed, and above all he loved laughing.His last years included mourning, financial anxiety, and betrayal by his staff, but he made fun of himself and of everyone else, and the jokes which Shelden has included here not only present a convincing picture of an old man who had not given up the impishness he described in _Tom Sawyer_, but they also enrich and enliven the biography.Many of Twain's quips are here, and plenty are laugh-out-loud funny.Thus, in these pages, he is shown as a fallible and lovable codger whose brilliant wit did not abandon him in his last years. He was busy in these years.Not only was he dictating his autobiography, which only now has prospects of being issued in full, but he was working with his friend Albert Bigelow Paine on the authorized biography.He was appreciated; among the happiest pages here are the ones describing his final visit to England so that he could pick up a doctoral degree from Oxford.He felt the compliment heartily, but he joked about it after getting the invitation: "In these past thirty-five or forty years I have seen our universities distribute nine or ten thousand honorary degrees and overlook me every time... This neglect would have killed a less robust person than I am, but it has not killed me; it has only shortened my life and weakened my constitution; but I shall get my strength back now."In the procession with him at Oxford was his friend Kipling, who was delighted at the way Oxford received Twain, saying, "Even those dignified old Oxford dons stood up and yelled."His house was burgled, and when the culprits were caught, he went to town hall to confront the miscreants: "So you're the two young men who called at my house last night and forgot to put your names in my guest-book?"Twain gave the two a serious tongue-lashing and then said, "Don't you see where you're drifting to?They'll send you from here down to Bridgeport jail, and the next thing you know, you'll be in the United States Senate."

He had good energy almost to the last, and good spirits throughout.A few months before his death, he had a serious nosebleed, and the family with whom he was staying, and the maids and valet, were all busy trying to comfort him and to bring wet cloths for his relief.He thought the fuss was funny: "Helen, run quickly and get a pencil and paper, so that you can take down my last words.It is the only thing that has been forgotten."Shelden's book, hugely entertaining courtesy of its brilliant subject, reminds us that even Twain's last years were busy ones, and that even in the middle of grief, betrayal, and loss, the old man laughed and made others laugh with him.There was purpose to it.He had written about his comic art, when Yale gave him a masters in 1888, "With all its lightness and frivolity it has one serious purpose... and it is constant to it - the deriding of shams, the exposure of pretentious falsities, the laughing of stupid superstitions out of existence."
... Read more

Product Description
Roughing It, Part 7. is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
Mark Twain is best known as one of this country's finest humorists and novelists. As this collection confirms, he was one of our finest essayists as well. Gathered here in a single volume, these pieces reveal the complete range of this esteemed American writer and contain some of his best, funniest, and most caustic work. "English as She Is Taught," "What Is Man?," and "Letters to Satan" are among the seventy-seven essays, each featuring Twain's witty, vital, colorful style--and reminding us why, nearly 100 years after his death, he continues to be one of the most widely read and beloved of all American authors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Some good, some boring
This is a compilation of Twain's shorter works and essays.Some of them are still very funny, others have lost context with the passing of years, and are somewhat boring.Someone praised the defense of Harriet Shelly -- I found that one boring, but then I care little for poetry and thus find the crass behavior of an ancient poet of little interest."Mastering the Bicycle" was very funny.This book also has "The War Prayer", which though I already had in another compendium of his work, has always been one of my favorites of his short works.All in all, a useful addition to my Twain library, and the type of book one just has to grab when it is available.Read what you like, pass over the rest.

Great Book
This is a great book with treasures from one on America's greatest authors.I was amazed at Twain's knowledge and interest in Israel and histravels to that region of the world.His insight was very interesting as he made several notes how the land was unoccupied in the early 1900's, no Arabs or Jews.This confirms Israels claims that the Arabs never did occupy the land Israel now possesses and, therefore, do not have any rightful claim to the land!

Amazing Collection, AMazing Author
As I have been searching for such a volume of essays, specifically by Mark, I finally came across one I really did enjoy. I, being a most powered reader, found this intriging and delightful to have in the home. His essays always put a smile on my face and I gave this as a gift to an english professor. They thanked me and also said how awesome of a collection it was. My favorite of all time "The Damned Human Race" of course is in, and I absolutely adore that. It is absolutely, and undoubtfully the most hilarious essay I have ever read. Thank you Mark Twain, and thank you for this awesome collection of his Writings.

When he is good
I do not know all or even most of the essays of this work. I do know that there are as with Twain tremendously humorous lines and passages. I know that for the reader there will be greatpleasure in reading this work.
As for the view of Man that is revealed in this work Twain I think is at times a bit narrow and ungenerous on one side, and over- sentimental on another. Yet considering the many sufferings he knew , the great financial and family difficulties he faced there is something winning in his remarkable feistiness and spirit. A great writer whose greatest writing is in his novels and especially ' Huckelberry Finn' there are nonetheless many brilliant insight and passages in this work .

Vintage Mark Twain
There has never existed a more witty writer than Samuel Clemens, our beloved Mark Twain. Everything the man has ever written, particularly as age sharpened his sense of irony, carries a most suave and acute style of point-of-view. Every observation, every poignancy, every comment he makes is exquisitely nailed down with a genius's flair for words. While some readers of today may find some of his essays antiquated and over-worded, all I can say is that this man possessed the finest intellect ever granted to a human being and was able to produce it on paper with a resounding flourish. Not to mention the finest humor also.

I have read most books by and about Mark Twain and was thrilled to recently come across this collection of his works.Out of the essays he has written in this volume, "In Defense of Harriet Shelley" is my favorite. This essay is Mark's review of Professor Dowden's book titled "Life of Shelley". Ordinarily, I would never have heard of the poet Shelley's adultery while married to his first wife, Harriet, nor even cared if I had, but Mark, who reviewed many books of his era (including his hilarious upbraiding on the grammatically incorrect Fenimore Cooper's novels!) put it all in perspective for me - brought it right up to present time and concern, so to speak. Every sentence in that particular essay is loaded with vintage Twain-ism and he does so rightly defend Harriet that when you finish reading, you want to print a copy of it and post it everywhere in your own defense of Harriet as well! At least I felt that way.

Other essays of note in this book are "Saint Joan of Arc","Mental Telepathy" and "The Death of Jean", the latter particularly profound since Mark writes about the death of his daughter, Jean, who while visiting him, dies as a result of an epileptic stroke. The bereaved father began this essay on the eve of her death and finished it within scant days; thus this writing displays a desperate immediacy to it - outpourings of a heart lamenting it's disbelief and shock. We see and feel with the man here in his most vulnerable state, hoping perhaps to find in his own writing, some link to his now-dead child.

This volume of essays was published in 1963 and I would love to see it reprinted again, updated with a catchy illustrated front cover, etc, (costs be damned) just to lure in a generation of readers who otherwise might never come across it. ... Read more

Product Description
Letters from the Earth is one of Mark Twain's posthumously published works. The essays were written during a difficult time in Twain's life; he was deep in debt and had lost his wife and one of his daughters. The book consists of a series of short stories, many of which deal with God and Christianity. Twain penned a series of letters from the point-of-view of a dejected angel on Earth. This title story consists of letters written by the archangel Satan to archangels, Gabriel and Michael, about his observations on the curious proceedings of earthly life and the nature of man's religions. By analyzing the idea of heaven and God that is widely accepted by those who believe in both, Twain is able to take the silliness that is present and study it with the common sense that is absent. Not so much an attack as much as a cold dissection. Other short stories in the book include a bedtime story about a family of cats Twain wrote for his daughters, and an essay explaining why an anaconda is morally superior to Man. Twain's writings in Letters From the Earth find him at perhaps his most quizzical and questioning state ever.Amazon.com Review
If you're already familiar with Finn and Sawyer, perhaps thiscollection of fragments, short stories, and essays--assembledposthumously some few decades ago now, but still fresh--will enhanceyour sense of Twain's true range. A particular favorite: his essay"The Damned Human Race," wherein he proves, ratherconvincingly, that an anaconda snake is a higher form of life than anEnglish Earl. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (50)

great transaction
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Letters from the Earth is Mark Twain writing with a pen warmed up hell
Letters from the Earth is a collection of essays on humankind and the Bible written by Mark Twain (1835-1910) near the end of his life.Twain never expected these works to be published during his lifetime; they saw the light of publishing day for the first time in 1962. The book contains:
a. Letters from the Earth sent by Satan describing the sins and foibles of that foolish and warlike creature known as MAN.
b. Pages from the diary of Adam, Eve, Noah and Methuselah which are humorous yet biting in their criticsm of humanity, the literal interpretation of the Bible and human governments.
c. Twain includes a story about cats which he told to his daughters prior to bedtime. The story contains a drawing of cats by Mark Twain and is amusing focusing on wordplay.
d. Among other essays Twain comments on etiquette, visiting the historical sites of nineteenth century London, Simplified spelling ideas in ancient Egypt; repentance and the damned human race.
e. A withering essays attacks James Fenimore Cooper for his ornate prose style in "The Last of the Mohicans."
f. The book concludes with the strange unfinished story "The Great Dark. This weird tale deals with a dreamlike voyage in a drop of water which has been placed under a microscope.
Some passages and topics in this book were very bory; yet there was enough vintage Twain observations on our race to keep me reading. We see Twain the anti-imperialist and religious iconoclast at his best in this uneven collection. The book has been well edited by Bernard DeVoto the late Twain scholar.

An effective dissertation from one of literatures most defiant minds
If all was right in the world, "Letters from the earth" would be widely circulated and openly discussed amongst all who undertake the practice of religion. As it stands though, treasures such as this are wasted on those of us who already concur with its message.

Bullied Heathen
This is a fantastic book. I never thought I'd like Twain. It shed light on the concepts and ideas of Twain, which are ideas we are not meant to learn about in American Schools. Our schools still milk the whole black white shock value issue (from Mark's early works)where as Mark Twain truly turns out to be quite a deep thinker and social satirist as a mature writer as well. He is quite in tune with research and wit upon the subject of the human race and the history of religion. A+++ Go ahead and get it, especially if in our ethnocentric run nation, you are, like many of us, scared into the closet of any non-Christian idealism.

Good Read
I have always been a fan of short stories by our classic poets.Mark Twain's "Letters From The Earth" should be read with all religion left at the door.Some people don't realize the books spin on the bible.The book came in a timely manor and I personally would not change a thing. ... Read more

Product Description
An enduring mystery in Mark Twain’s life concerns the events of his last decade, from 1900 to 1910.

Despite many Twain biographies, no one has ever determined exactly what took place during those final years after the death of Twain’s wife of thirty-four years and how those experiences affected him, personally and professionally. For nearly a century, it was believed that Twain went to his death a beloved, wisecracking iconoclastic American (“I am not an American,” Twain wrote; “I am the American”), undeterred by life’s sorrows and challenges.

Laura Skandera Trombley, the preeminent Twain scholar at work today, suspected that there had to be more to the story than the cultivated, carefully constructed version that had been intact for so long. Trombley went in search of the one woman whom she suspected had played the largest role in Twain’s life during those final years and who possibly held the answers to her questions about Twain’s life and writings.

Now, in Mark Twain’s Other Woman, after sixteen years of research, uncovering never-before-read papers and personal letters, Trombley tells the full story through Isabel Lyon’s meticulous daily journals, the only detailed record of Twain’s last years that exists, journals overlooked by Twain’s previous biographers.

For one hundred years, Isabel Van Kleek Lyon has been the mystery woman in Mark Twain’s life. Twain spent the bulk of his last six years in the company of Isabel, who was responsible for overseeing his schedule and finances, nursing him through several illnesses, managing his increasingly unmanageable daughters, running his household, arranging amusements, as well as presiding over the construction of his final residence. Isabel Lyon also served as Twain’s adoring audience (she called him “the King”), listening attentively as he read aloud to her what he’d written that day. She was Twain’s gatekeeper to an enthralled public.

Trombley writes about what happened between them that resulted in the dramatic breakup of their relationship; about how, in Twain’s final months, he gave bitter, angry press conferences denouncing her; how he ranted in personal letters that she had injured him, calling her, “a liar, a forger, a thief, a hypocrite, a drunkard, a sneak, a humbug, a traitor, a conspirator, a filthy-minded & salacious slut pining for seduction.” Trombley writes that Twain’s invective bordered on obsession (he wrote about Isabel for hours every day, even while suffering from angina pains and gout attacks) and about how, despite the inordinate attention he gave her before his death, Isabel Lyon has remained a friendless ghost haunting the margins of Twain’s biography.

For decades, biographers deliberately omitted her from the official Twain story. Her potentially destructive power was so great that Twain’s handpicked hagiographer, Albert Bigelow Paine, allowed only one timorous reference to her in his massive three-volume work, Mark Twain: A Biography (1912).

Isabel Lyon was a forgotten woman, “so private,” she wrote in her journal, “that the very mention of me [was] with held from the world. . .”

This riveting, dark story that “the King” determined no one would ever tell is now revealed at last.Amazon.com Review
A Q&A with Laura Skandera Trombley

Customer Reviews (7)

Twain's family
Great book, who would ever have thought Mark Twain would have had such a dysfunctional family - interesting read.

If you're curious about Mark Twain read this book.
Mark Twain is one of my two favorite authors, the other being Robert Frost.With that said, I am a wee bit sensitive when I think someone is trying to belittle either of them.That was my initial fear when I saw the book "Mark Twain's Other Woman: The Hidden Story of His Final Years" by Laura Skandera Trombley.So many of our traditional cultural, historical, and literary icons have been sullied over recent years by both substantiated and unsubstantiated claims, that it's hard not to react negatively when a new expose is published.

Thankfully I picked the book up and looked at it and then did a little research on the Internet and discovered that while "Mark Twain's Other Woman" is not exactly complimentary to Mark Twain, it isn't a slash and burn attack on one of our larger than life and beloved literary figures.

Isabel Van Kleek Lyon was hired as a personal assistant (secretary) to Samuel Clemens in 1902.Lyon, it turns out, kept a detailed daily diary of Twain's final years:Who he saw, who he was mad at, what he did, and simply a register of his day to day activities.It is through this daily log, almost totally ignored by other Twain scholars, that Trombley develops her book.

Lyon joined the Clemens household in 1902, before Olivia, Clemens wife, died.It was very soon after that, however, that Clara Clemens, Mark Twain's eldest daughter, developed a dislike for Lyon.In the end Clara managed to convince her father that Lyon had stolen from him and the two launched an unstoppable campaign to smear Lyon's reputation.

Did Lyon's steal from the Mark Twain?Did she desire a physical relationship with the elder writer?Trombley does a good job of examining these and other issues.She does manage to fill in gaps and add to the Mark Twain story.

I'm not sure that I'm satisfied that Mark Twain's Other Woman is the complete story, however.Something happened that soured Twain on Lyons.Trombley does an excellent job at examining the known documents but is this the whole story?There is mystery here.

I highly recommend Mark Twain's Other Woman.

Peace to all.

A fascinating tale of the "other woman" in Mark Twain's late life
A short time ago, I read a fine biography of Mark Twain by Ron Powers. One issue that intrigued me mightily was a very brief mention of two women in Twain's later life--Isabel Lyon and Laura Wright (later Dake). In both cases, Powers' discussion made me want to know more about each.

Well, this work discusses in much more depth the relationship between Lyon and Twain. And it is a pretty disturbing tale, of fight to the death nastiness among those in Twain's life. Isabel Lyon wrote well detailed notes on nearly a day-by-day basis in terms of her years with Twain. She served as a secretary, a colleague, the person who looked after his finances, running his household, and supervising his last home. A part of the picture was the fierce contention Lyon had with Twain's daughter Clara, with Twain's biographer, and so on. Sometimes the people could work together; at other times they fought fiercely.

Lyon was Twain's companion for much of the last 6 years of his life. At some point, he essentially kicked her out of his life and began vituperative attacks on her.

This book uses previously unused private papers of Lyon to outline the nature of the relationship with Twain--and other aspects of Twain's life. I am not an expert on Mark Twain, so I am not in a position to judge the validity of the author's findings. But this is powerful reading, and one wonders how someone who played such an important role in Twain's later life could be so effectively expunged from many works on Twain.

Twain'sWomen
Fame came to Mark Twain fairly early in life, and by the time he died, he was being celebrated as one of the greatest writers America had ever produced. Such fame can be a burden to bear, and Twain spent a good deal of his final decade worried about how he would be remembered. This intense focus led him to make difficult and often cruel decisions that would affect those closest to him. No one was affected more than Isabel Lyon, his faithful secretary and personal assistant, who was his constant companion after his wife passed away.

Lyon's story had been lost to history--until now. Avoided by previous Twain biographers in an effort to appease Twain's daughters, who intensely disliked and disapproved of Lyon, and previously dismissed due to her middle-class roots, Lyon finally gets her due in this wonderfully researched book. At times, Trombley is a little overbearing, but the story of Lyon and Twain is such a revealing look at a side of Twain that many have never seen.

A Tale That Needed Telling
I was fascinated by this account of Twain's final years.Using archival records,contemporaneous newspapers, and Isabel Van Kleek Lyon's diaries, author Trombley weaves an engrossing tale which makes events from 100 years ago vividly come to life.If you enjoy well-documented and carefully planned biographies, you'll like this work.It was worth the sixteen years the author took to complete it.I came away with little respect for most of the Clemens family,but at the same time I could understand clearly their motivations for their behavior.As for the almost forgotten Miss Lyon, she really deserved this work.I really sympathized with her and the way she was mistreated by the Clemens clan.At last, the true story is available to us all. ... Read more