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Roughing It Audiobook
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(3.01) - 3,313 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Two American originals, Mark Twain and the West, come together in this documentary of the author's seven-year "pleasure trip" to the silver mines of Nevada. Twain had originally planned the trip to be a three-month "vacation;" not surprisingly for someone of Twain's temperament, the trip lasted seven years. His journey, like his book, has a way of taking ever-unexpected turns.
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"As any kid with a Missouri education, I'd had plenty of exposure to Twain, but it had always been his more well-known fiction (Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn) that we'd read in class. This book, a nonfiction account of Clemens' trip west with his brother, is decidedly different. Twain was in Nevada during the great silver mining rush, and in San Francisco during one of its biggest earthquakes. He discusses his visits with the Mormon community in Salt Lake City, his newspaper-editor days in the Nevada mining town of Virginia City, his visit to the Solomon Islands (Hawaii) as guest correspondent for a San Francisco newspaper, his experience as a vagrant on the streets of San Francisco, and his scheme to make his living as a lecturer in that city's theaters."
— Kris (4 out of 5 stars)
Roughing It Listener Reviews
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" This past summer while in Lake Tahoe I met a Twain impersonator. He recommended reading Roughing It to hear Twain's experiences in the area first hand. It didn't disappoint. A rollicking account of Twains travels from the midwest to Nevada, California and finally Hawaii. Mark Twain is plain funny in any age. "
— Scott, 2/20/2014 -
" Take a young Sam Clemens and put him in the Wild West with a bunch of Yahoo gold prospectors and this is what you get. I especially like the Lake Tahoe scene where they're playing an innocent game of euchre when all Hellfire breaks loose. "
— Newengland, 2/19/2014 -
" Wonderfully accurate descriptions of Northern Nevada (Washoe) and the Eastern Sierra, hilarious adventures, not to mention one of the first books about the Hawaiian Islands -- it really is an entire little book, and it's perfect. Yes, Mark Twain was one of the first white men to surf. "
— Ken, 1/27/2014 -
" Very interesting and totally unique tale of the west. Particularly enjoyed his description of Hawaii before it was claimed by the US. "
— Sean, 1/25/2014 -
" Twain's own account of his first adventures away from home in the mid-nineteenth century and, in effect, the story of how he became a humorist writer and lecturer. His search for opportunity takes him to the mines of Nevada and California. He ends up in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). A quick fortune seems to persistently elude him, and he is continually forced to resort to his writing, and eventually lectures, to make a living. I was repeatedly amazed by the hilarious complexity with which he can tell a story, building to a gut-laughing end. I learned of this book through a tribute to his birthday on Writer's Almanac. "
— Ronald, 1/23/2014 -
" Twain's story of coming across the country in a stage coach makes you feel like you are there. He describes the wild West during the silver boom in Nevada. He also lives in San Francisco and Hawaii. This is better than any history I've ever read about the period. And his sense of humor seems so modern. Highly recommend, and I'm going to read Innocents Abroad next. "
— Gail, 1/23/2014 -
" Enjoyed reading this non-fiction Twain book. Laughed out loud at several points. Some parts about silver mining got a little dry, but still fascinating to see early West history through Twain's eyes when he was just starting out writing. "
— Rick, 1/23/2014 -
" Funny. Twain loves satire. "
— Mandy, 1/20/2014 -
" Not Twain's best, but he's always entertaining. "
— Adam, 1/14/2014 -
" I just love Twain. He can do no wrong. This one is about Twain's ramblings through the American West. "
— Elizabeth, 1/9/2014 -
" Loved Twain's style and wit. "
— Peter, 12/29/2013 -
" A quick read that will have you laughing and have you thinking about his portrayal of a trip out west -- when the west was still being "won" by the white man over the native folks. Twain was a man of his time and his views of the indigenous people reflect that. "
— Kate, 8/7/2013 -
" Someone-- not Tolstoy-- said that there are two types of stories: A man goes on a journey; a stranger comes to town. Today's selection's are of the first type. "Roughing it" may be the best travelogue since Marco Polo. But Marco Polo wasn't an American. Happy 4th! "
— Craig, 5/24/2013 -
" If you want an entertaining read that will have you chuckling more often than not, pick this one up. Also, its hard to find "classic" authors or "littereature" that approaches this level of whimsy. "
— Zane, 4/27/2013 -
" My favorite of Twain's books so far. Definitely the funniest history lesson I've ever gotten. Reading this book is like finding a piece of the Old West perfectly preserved in amber. "
— Reed, 2/19/2013 -
" Learned a lot of the life styles of people during and after the civil war. This combined with adequate humor to keep give a lighter read. Interesting to get caught up in the gold rush during that time. "
— Merle, 6/5/2012 -
" This book is all over the place!!! "
— J, 1/9/2012 -
" A few bright spots, but lots of other stuff in between "
— Eric, 7/27/2011 -
" Dad gave this to me to read when I lived in SF - what a great treat. "
— Kristin, 6/9/2011 -
" Twain had me laughing out loud at his stories and situations. Definate read for any Twain fan. I think my favorite part was when he goes to see the drunk guy who's telling the story about his grandfather's goat. "
— Quinn, 5/9/2011 -
" Enjoyed reading this non-fiction Twain book. Laughed out loud at several points. Some parts about silver mining got a little dry, but still fascinating to see early West history through Twain's eyes when he was just starting out writing. "
— Rllk4, 4/15/2011 -
" Regarded (by Twain) as the first book about the "far west" in the United States by someone who was there. Great so far. Twain before he was polished, so its rough, and still hilarious. "
— Andy, 3/16/2011 -
" I read this years ago and thought I'd pull it out again. I love Twain but this is a travelogue and isn't always a page turn. It is fun to hear him give his first hand accounts of stage coach travel, the 1865 quake in San Francisco and the gold rush though. "
— Carolyn, 2/9/2011 -
" A bit uneven. Some parts were pretty funny. Some parts dragged. A fascinating snapshot of American history, humanity, attitudes and anecdotes from the 1860's. "
— Steven, 1/7/2011 -
" Very interesting and totally unique tale of the west. Particularly enjoyed his description of Hawaii before it was claimed by the US. "
— Sean, 11/29/2010 -
" There are a lot of amusing anecdotes in this, but I wish it had been about half as long. "
— Aneel, 10/23/2010 -
" Ok, he can be funny at times. More of the snort variety than a hardy guffaw. Listening to it again, I still don't really like his writing much. "
— Mckinley, 10/20/2010
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 Norman Dietz
Norman Dietz is a writer, voice-over artist, and audiobook narrator. He has won numerous Earphones Awards and was named one of the fifty “Best Voices of the Century” by AudioFile magazine. He and his late wife, Sandra, transformed an abandoned ice-cream parlor into a playhouse, which served “the world’s best hot fudge sundaes” before and after performances. The founder of Theatre in the Works, he lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.