{"product_id":"mark-twain","title":"Mark Twain","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Bestseller - One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2025- A \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eNotable Book - Named a Best Book of 2025 by \u003ci\u003eTIME\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e The Guardian, Bloomberg\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Christian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Comprehensive, enthralling . . . \u003ci\u003eMark Twain\u003c\/i\u003e flows like the Mississippi River, its prose propelled by Mark Twain's own exuberance.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Chernow writes with such ease and clarity . . . For all its length and detail, [\u003ci\u003eMark Twain\u003c\/i\u003e] is deeply absorbing throughout.\" -- \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow illuminates the full, fascinating, and complex life of the writer long celebrated as the father of American literature, Mark Twain\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBefore he was Mark Twain, he was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Born in 1835, the man who would become America's first, and most influential, literary celebrity spent his childhood dreaming of piloting steamboats on the Mississippi. But when the Civil War interrupted his career on the river, the young Twain went west to the Nevada Territory and accepted a job at a local newspaper, writing dispatches that attracted attention for their brashness and humor. It wasn't long before the former steamboat pilot from Missouri was recognized across the country for his literary brilliance, writing under a pen name that he would immortalize.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this richly nuanced portrait of Mark Twain, acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow brings his considerable powers to bear on a man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune, and crafted his persona with meticulous care. After establishing himself as a journalist, satirist, and lecturer, he eventually settled in Hartford with his wife and three daughters, where he went on to write \u003ci\u003eThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eAdventures of Huckleberry Finn\u003c\/i\u003e. He threw himself into the hurly-burly of American culture, and emerged as the nation's most notable political pundit. At the same time, his madcap business ventures eventually bankrupted him; to economize, Twain and his family spent nine eventful years in exile in Europe. He suffered the death of his wife and two daughters, and the last stage of his life was marked by heartache, political crusades, and eccentric behavior that sometimes obscured darker forces at play.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing on Twain's bountiful archives, including thousands of letters and hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, Chernow masterfully captures the man whose career reflected the country's westward expansion, industrialization, and foreign wars, and who was the most important white author of his generation to grapple so fully with the legacy of slavery. Today, more than one hundred years after his death, Twain's writing continues to be read, debated, and quoted. In this brilliant work of scholarship, a moving tribute to the writer's talent and humanity, Chernow reveals the magnificent and often maddening life of one of the most original characters in American history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47707076985053,"sku":"9780525561729","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0769\/3765\/8589\/files\/imageloader_a5ce6f1f-c65d-4cde-a03c-f734b9c47437.jpg?v=1774553567","url":"https:\/\/bookshelfbliss.com\/products\/mark-twain","provider":"Bookshelf Bliss","version":"1.0","type":"link"}