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The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg Audiobook
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(3.50) - 8 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
This classic tale and superb short story by Mark Twain is a funny yet blistering indictment of political hypocrisy. A mysterious stranger is treated badly by the town of Hadleyburg—the town that proclaims itself "the most honest and upright town in the region." Through an ingenious sting operation, the stranger sets out to expose Hadleyburg's leading citizens and reveal their greedy, deceitful natures. Twain's burning wit and insight into political posturing and civic cowardice seem more pertinent than ever.
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"This collection of short stories shows a different side of Mark Twain. Works such as these from later in his life have a cynicism that is not so prevalent in his earlier writing. Still, Twain's typical wit and twists of plot kept me laughing throughout. "
— Susan (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“[This] short story by Mark Twain satirizing the vanity of the virtuous… relates the downfall of the citizens of a town that boasts of its honesty with the motto ‘Lead us not into temptation.’”
— Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg Listener Reviews
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" This collection of short stories shows a different side of Mark Twain. Works such as these from later in his life have a cynicism that is not so prevalent in his earlier writing. Still, Twain's typical wit and twists of plot kept me laughing throughout. "
— Susan, 1/6/2010 -
" Mark Twain's stories in this book are interesting and clever, but for some reason it still took me quite a while to get around to finishing the book. Other books, it seems, were more interesting, so this one kept getting pre-empted. "
— Camille, 1/17/2008 -
" Mark Twain's stories in this book are interesting and clever, but for some reason it still took me quite a while to get around to finishing the book. Other books, it seems, were more interesting, so this one kept getting pre-empted. "
— Camille, 1/17/2008
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.