Publisher Description
In Life on the Mississippi, the great American humorist Mark Twain recounts his journeys on the mighty Mississippi river. Covering the beginnings of his career as steamboat pilot, Twain entertains us with his wit, anecdotes and wild stories of the myriad characters and adventures he encounters. From a brief history of the Mississippi we are taken on to a recollection of the river life with its rich history and engaging narrative, newcomers and fans of Twain alike.
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“With his series of humorous memoirs, Twain made himself one of the most beloved characters of American literature. In Life on the Mississippi, he combined an entertaining coming-of-age story with a late homecoming journal. Together they revealed great changes within the author and in our country’s heartland.”
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Library Journal
About Mark Twain
Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel L. Clemens (1835–1910), was born in Florida, Missouri, and grew up in Hannibal on the west bank of the Mississippi River. He attended school briefly and then at age thirteen became a full-time apprentice to a local printer. When his older brother Orion established the Hannibal Journal, Samuel became a compositor for that paper and then, for a time, an itinerant printer. With a commission to write comic travel letters, he traveled down the Mississippi. Smitten with the riverboat life, he signed on as an apprentice to a steamboat pilot. After 1859, he became a licensed pilot, but two years later the Civil War put an end to the steam-boat traffic.
In 1861, he and his brother traveled to the Nevada Territory where Samuel became a writer for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, and there, on February 3, 1863, he signed a humorous account with the pseudonym Mark Twain. The name was a river man’s term for water “two fathoms deep” and thus just barely safe for navigation.
In 1870 Twain married and moved with his wife to Hartford, Connecticut. He became a highly successful lecturer in the United States and England, and he continued to write.
About Robin Field
Robin Field is the AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator of numerous audiobooks, as well as an award-winning actor, singer, writer, and lyricist whose career has spanned six decades. He has starred on and off Broadway, headlined at Carnegie Hall, authored numerous musical reviews, and hosted or performed on a number of television and radio programs over the years.