Mark Twain
Author
Series
Publication Date
2016
Summary
The Satirical and Bitter Side of Mark Twain. "Man is made of dirt, I saw him made. I am not made of dirt. Man is a museum of diseases, a home of impurities, he comes today and is gone tomorrow, he begins as dirt and departs as stench. I am of the aristocracy of the Imperishables. And man has the Moral Sense. You understand? He has the Moral Sense. That would seem to be difference enough between us, all by itself." The Mysterious Stranger and Other...
Author
Series
Publication Date
1931
Lexile Measure
990L
Summary
"The classic boyhood adventure tale, updated with a new introduction by noted Mark Twain scholar R. Kent Rasmussen In recent years, neither the persistent effort to "clean up" the racial epithets in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn nor its consistent use in the classroom have diminished, highlighting the novel's wide-ranging influence and its continued importance in American society. An incomparable adventure story, it is a vignette of...
3) Roughing it
Author
Publication Date
1872
Summary
Originally published over one hundred years ago, "Roughing It" tells the (almost) true story of Mark Twain's rollicking adventures across the United States. A hilarious account of how the author tried finding wealth in the rocks of Nevada, it was published before his most famous works and shows why he would grow to become one of the most beloved American writers of all time. The story follows many of Twain's early adventures, including a visit to...
Author
Series
Publication Date
1901
Summary
A memoir of the steamboat era on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War. The first half details a brief history of the river from its discovery by Hernando de Soto in 1541 and describes Twain's career as a Mississippi steamboat pilot, the fulfillment of a childhood dream. The second half of Life on the Mississippi tells of Twain's return, many years after, to travel the river from St. Louis to New Orleans. By then the competition from...
Author
Publication Date
1901
Lexile Measure
1080L
Summary
"The book relates the tale of Hank Morgan, an engineer from 19th century Hartford Connecticut, who is inexplicably transported to the early medieval England of King Arthur. While there he uses his knowledge of modern technology to appear as though he is a magician. Despite his best intentions, Hank?s attempts to modernize the past bring about a tragic end. A bittersweet depiction of the Arthurian legend through the eyes of a 19th century American..."...
Author
Series
Publication Date
1901
Summary
"A Tramp Abroad" is a work of travel literature, including a mixture of autobiography and fictional events, by American author Mark Twain, published in 1880. The book details a journey by the author, with his friend Harris (a character created for the book, and based on his closest friend, Joseph Twichell), through central and southern Europe. While the stated goal of the journey is to walk most of the way, the men find themselves using other forms...
Author
Publication Date
1921
Lexile Measure
1170L
Summary
"Set in sixteenth-century England, The Prince and the Pauper is Mark Twain's timeless tale of identical strangers, the penniless Tom Canty living in the London slums and the royal Prince Edward, who switch places to experience what the other's life has to offer."-- Amazon website.
Author
Series
Publication Date
1920
Lexile Measure
970L
Summary
"Mark Twain created the memorable characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn drawing from the experiences of boys he grew up with in Missouri. Set by the Mississippi River in the 1840's, it follows these boys as they get into predicament after predicament. Tom's classic whitewashing of the fence has become part of American culture, and the book paints a nostalgic picture of life in the middle of the nineteenth century. Tom runs away from home to an...
Author
Series
Publication Date
1903
Summary
"Based on a series of letters Mark Twain wrote from Europe for San Francisco and New York newspapers as a roving correspondent, The Innocents Abroad (1869) is a caricature of the sentimental travel books popular in the mid-nineteenth century. Mark Twain's fresh and humorous perspective on hallowed European landmarks lacked reverence for the past, and was as mocking about American manners (including his own) as it was about European attitudes. Twain...
Author
Publication Date
1980
Summary
Known as one of American literature's finest humor writers, Mark Twain took on the travel genre in the series of essays, sketches, and observations collected in The Innocents Abroad. From classic fish-out-of-water shenanigans to keen insight into the differences between American culture and its European and Middle Eastern counterparts, this volume is an engaging and rewarding read.
11) A Dog's Tale
Author
Publication Date
2016
Summary
Why are they taking me away from my mother? Please someone stop them!
Imagine the pain of being separated from your loving mother as a young child. This is exactly what the poor puppy Aileen had to face.
Aileen Mavourneen is a St. Bernard and collie cross puppy who thinks of herself as a Presbyterian because that is what her mother had told her. At first, life for Aileen seems perfect with her new family until a fire breaks out in the house of her...
Author
Series
Publication Date
1965
Summary
"Tom Sawyer, Detective" is Mark Twain's 1896 novel featuring Tom Sawyer and narrated by Huckleberry Finn. A sequel to Twain's famous "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", this burlesque of then-popular detective fiction follows Tom as he attempts to solve the mystery of a murder. A wonderful example of Twain's unforgettable work not to be missed by fans of the timeless Tom Sawyer series. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835—1910), more commonly known under...
Author
Publication Date
1925
Summary
The classic travelogue of one of America's most famous authors, Mark Twain, "Following the Equator" was written when having fallen upon hard times financially, Twain found himself compelled to take a tour of the British Empire in 1895 and write about it. This is that account, published in 1897; it is a classic example of Twain's ever vigilant observational wit. He addresses such important and still ever timely topics as racism, imperialism and religion....
Author
Publication Date
1964
Summary
It began as a dinner-party contest: when Mark Twain and his neighbor Charles Dudley Warner criticized the deplorable quality of their wives' reading material, the two writers were challenged to come up with something more intriguing. Thus, for the only time in his career, Twain collaborated on a novel with another author. The title of their rollicking 1873 tale became synonymous with the rampant post—Civil War corruption of Washington, D.C., where...
Author
Series
Publication Date
1901
Summary
Fearing for the safety of her young child's life, a young slave called Roxy swaps her light-skinned baby with that of her master. Her master's child grows up as a slave, while Roxy's child grows up as a white man called "Tom" who becomes cruel and ends up leading a life crime. The book is a cutting indictment of a society based on racial prejudice and slavery brimming with Twain's characteristic wit and irony. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835—1910),...
Author
Publication Date
1992
Summary
The most comprehensive Mark Twain collection—over 150 short stories, sketches, burlesques, hoaxes, tall tales, speeches, satires, and maxims from America’s greatest humorist.
Arranged chronologically and containing many pieces restored to the form in which Twain intended them to appear, this special Library of America volume shows with unprecedented clarity the literary evolution of Mark Twain over six decades of his career.
...
Arranged chronologically and containing many pieces restored to the form in which Twain intended them to appear, this special Library of America volume shows with unprecedented clarity the literary evolution of Mark Twain over six decades of his career.
...
Author
Series
Publication Date
1901
Summary
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte is an 1896 novel by Mark Twain, which recounts the life of Joan of Arc. It is Twain's last completed novel, published when he was 61 years old. The novel is presented as a translation by "Jean Francois Alden" of memoirs by Louis de Conte, a fictionalized version of Joan of Arc's page Louis de Contes. Twain was aware of his reputation as a comic writer and he asked that each installment...
Author
Series
Publication Date
1901
Summary
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte is an 1896 novel by Mark Twain which recounts the life of Joan of Arc. It is Twain's last completed novel, published when he was 61 years old. The novel is presented as a translation by "Jean Francois Alden" of memoirs by Louis de Conte, a fictionalized version of Joan of Arc's page Louis de Contes. Twain was aware of his reputation as a comic writer and he asked that each installment...
Author
Publication Date
1901
Summary
These acerbic, poignant, and thought-provoking essays concern mankind, its relationship with God, and how the mind works. Twain himself considered them dark and cynical, delaying their publication for many years before finally releasing them as an anonymous, limited-edition collection.
The title essay constitutes a deeply felt blow against religious hypocrisy, written in the form of a Socratic dialogue between a young idealist and an elderly, world-weary...
Author
Publication Date
2025
Summary
In On the Decay of the Art of Lying (1880), Mark Twain offers a witty, satirical defense of lying as a necessary and even noble human art. He begins by observing that lying is a universal trait, present in everyone, but laments that it is no longer done skillfully or for virtuous reasons. Twain argues that lying, when done with good intentions-such as to protect others' feelings or preserve harmonies, is far preferable to harsh truth-telling that...
