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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 818.409 EAN: 9780375405617 Edition: 1 ISBN: 0375405615 Label: Knopf Manufacturer: Knopf Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 288 Publication Date: November 13, 2001 Publisher: Knopf Release Date: November 13, 2001 Studio: Knopf Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: This is more than a lavishly illustrated companion book to the Mark Twain PBS series. National Book Critics Circle Award winner Geoffrey C. Ward, Dayton Duncan, and Ken Burns have produced a cogent, colorful portrait of the man who forged our national identity in the sentences he spun. Excellent though the brisk narrative may be, the book's greatest pleasures are the extensive Twain quotations; no one has topped his description of the Mississippi River, and he had a salty remark for every occasion (charged an outrageous fee for a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, he cracked, "Do you wonder now that Christ walked?"). Passages from his correspondence reveal a man of deep feeling; letters to his wife Livy movingly express enduring marital love, and the grief-stricken note following his beloved daughter Susy's sudden death is almost unbearable to read. Excerpts from less well known works like "The War Prayer" highlight Twain's scathing contempt for imperialism and hypocrisy alike. Several freestanding pieces by various admirers (including novelist Russell Banks and actor Hal Holbrook) supplement the authors' text; most notable among them is critic Jocelyn Chadwick's persuasive defense of Twain's frequent use of "The Six-Letter Word" (n----r) in Huckleberry Finn as a necessary and still-shocking device to confront Americans with the moral horror of racism. Gracefully synthesizing current scholarship, this warmhearted biography provides the perfect introduction to Mark Twain. --Wendy Smith Product Description: Ernest Hemingway called Huckleberry Finn “the best book we’ve ever had. There was nothing before. There’s been nothing as good since.” Critical opinion of this book hasn’t dimmed since Hemingway uttered these words; as author Russell Banks says in these pages, Twain “makes possible an American literature which would otherwise not have been possible.” He was the most famous American of his day, and remains in ours the most universally revered American writer. Here the master storytellers Geoffrey Ward, Ken Burns, and Dayton Duncan give us the first fully illustrated biography of Mark Twain, American literature’s touchstone, its funniest and most inventive figure. 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. The authors take us from Samuel Langhorne Clemens’s boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri, to his time as a riverboat worker—when he adopted the sobriquet “Mark Twain”—to his varied careers as a newspaperman, printer, and author. They follow him from the home he built in Hartford, Connecticut, to his peripatetic travels across Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. We see Twain grieve over his favorite daughter’s death, and we see him writing and noticing everything. Twain believed that “The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven.” This paradox fueled his hilarity and lay at the core of this irreverent yet profoundly serious author. With essays by Russell Banks, Jocelyn Chadwick, Ron Powers, and John Boyer, as well as an interview with actor and frequent Twain portrayer Hal Holbrook, this book provides a full and rich portrayal of the first figure of American letters. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - "I am not 'an 'American," he once said." I am 'the' American."This is an excellent biography for many reasons.It is written in very simple language and makes a fast paced read.There are a multitude of excellent and relevant photos of Twain,all the members of his family and at many stages of their lives.There are numerous pictures of where Twain lived and homes he had.Also, many pictures of family life.He lived such an interesting life ,it takes a lot of pictures to make one see what it was all like.The pictures are so good that it would be impossible ... Read More Rating:  - Not recommended: confusing.The book is confusing. What is the reader supposed to believe? Clemens was a genius, or, Clemens was an imbecile? "Mark Twain an Illustrated Biography" starts with a preface that says: Sam Clemens was a "genius." Next comes the prologue, which states "his own overreaching drove him and his family into exile oversaes."---That statement could not be farther from the truth. A book that starts by rejoicing in Twain's genius and, then proceeds completely to ignore Twain's genius and portray an imbecile is ... Read More Rating: - The Bitter And The SweetI wonder how many people could have led the life that Samuel Clemens did and kept their sanity. He went from riches to rags (even though it was his own fault...he spent money like it was going out of style and made some horrendous investments), which forced him, at the age of 60, into making a 10 month long physically and mentally draining around-the-world lecture tour. The tour enabled him to pay off his debts and regain his financial footing. Unfortunately, money was the least of his problems. The authors ... Read More Rating: - A TreasureThis illustrated biography of one of America's most memorable and beloved authors holds quite a few surprises for the unsuspecting reader. Anticipating anecdotes from Mark Twain's life that would portray him as a kind, altruistic, and loving man, I was shocked to learn he was also an irrascible, guilt-ridden, tight-fisted lover of alcohol and cigars who was often looking for ways to get rich. He was born in 19th century Missouri and raised during a time when major political, economic, social, and ... Read More Rating: - An informative survey of Twain's lifeMark Twain: An Illustrated Biography is an informative survey of Twain's life which gathers material from a variety of published and unpublished sources, from his novels and lectures to his letters and photos. Students and fans of Twain thus receive much more illustration than in competing titles, in the form of vintage photos and color ads and drawings, along with a lively biographical sketch surveying Twain's life and times. Highly recommended; much more accessible than most. 
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