Mark Twain: An Illustrated Biography

by Geoffrey C. Ward, Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns Narrated by Bill Meisle

Overview

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This book pulls together material from a variety of published and unpublished sources.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.

Editorial Reviews

bn.com

The Barnes & Noble Review
Geoffrey C. Ward, Dayton Duncan, and Ken Burns have written a touching and heartfelt look at the life and career of the man who is, arguably, the greatest writer in American history: Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. This is a glorious and beautiful illustrated book, drawing on Twain's works, diaries, and letters -- it's ideal as a companion to the four-hour PBS series on Twain.

What's most remarkable about Twain's life is the amount of personal loss he went through, and the degree to which he blamed himself for it. His brother Henry, a steamboat clerk, died in an explosion on the Mississippi in 1858; Twain felt responsible because he hadn't been there for his younger brother when he needed him. He and his beloved wife, Livy, lost a prematurely born son, Langdon, in 1872; again, Twain felt responsible, blaming himself for allowing the baby to catch cold. His daughter Susy died of an infection at the tender age of 23; Clemens blamed the death on the stress caused by the family's chronic bankruptcy. When Livy herself succumbed in 1904 (a loss that devastated Clemens, who adored the woman who so often inspired his writing), their daughter Clara suffered a nervous breakdown.

How did a man who has written some of the wittiest and most trenchant social commentary cope with so much intense misfortune? Perhaps it was his very "American-ness"; he clearly had that zest for adventure that sums up the spirit of the country. On the other hand, when one looks at the evolution of his writing over the years, there is a definite darkening in tone, a negativity that reflects Twain's personal misery. Either way, this illustrated look at the great humorist is a wonderful read. (Nicholas Sinisi)

Nicholas Sinisi is the Barnes&Noble.com Nonfiction Editor.

Publishers Weekly

In 1867, after successfully marketing accounts of his Mideast travels to several newspapers, Mark Twain wrote to his mother, "Am pretty well known now. Intend to be better known." But he could hardly have anticipated the meteoric rise that would rapidly make him America's most prominent citizen. Next January, Twain will be subjected to that conclusive proof of American significance, the Ken Burns documentary. The inevitable cross-merchandising will include this illustrated biography, which, happily, stands on its own merits as a fascinating account of Twain's extraordinary career. All Burns productions center on a good story, and this is a plain, very human tale: rags, riches, and the rest. The authors (Ward and Duncan are frequent collaborators with Burns) thoroughly examine Twain's disastrous business sense, his horrid temper, his unlikely courtship of the heiress Olivia Langdon, his climb out of bankruptcy at the age of 60, the loss of three of his four children, his global celebrity. Even amid tragedy, Twain could make a stone laugh, but it was his rare frankness in confronting racism, and the publication of the controversial Huckleberry Finn, that would secure his fame beyond national borders and his own time. As one might expect, the Burns team has done magnificent archival detective work and unearthed a treasure trove of rare Twain photographs. This should appeal to a vast potential readership eager to learn more about this manic, profound, daft and provocative mad genius of American culture. (Nov. 20) Forecast: Shelve this with The Annotated Huckleberry Finn (Forecasts, Sept. 10) and sales should soar during the holidays, even before the TV documentary airs. Copyright 2001Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Ward hooks up with his old pal Ken Burns and consultant Dayton Duncan in this companion to a four-hour PBS series. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-An excellent introduction to both the man and the writer. In making Ken Burns's PBS program on Twain, the authors brought together countless black-and-white photographs, many never before published. Students who look at nothing but the images will learn a good deal. The interesting text is liberally interspersed with italicized quotes from Twain's novels, diaries, essays, lectures, and letters that bring out the finer points of an event in vivid detail. Longer quotes are presented in white print on black pages. Although it is obvious these are the writer's words, they are not cited in source notes. Five essays or interviews from the time period give qualified opinions on specific aspects of Twain's life or writing. An excellent choice for high school students.-Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA Graphic Novels SAKAI, Stan. Usagi Yojimbo: Grasscutter II: Journey to Atsuta Shrine. illus. by author. 174p. (Usagi Yojimbo Series). notes. Dark Horse. 2002. pap. $15.95. ISBN 1-56971-660-9. LC number unavailable. Adult/High School-This book opens with the legend of Prince Yamato-Dake, who gave the sword of the sun-goddess Amaterasu to his bride on their wedding day. He met a tragic fate by going to fight without the sacred blade, and the sword, known as Kusanagi no tsurugi, or grass-cutting sword, was enshrined at Atsuta. Several centuries later, a replica was made, and the real Grasscutter was moved to the imperial court and then lost. Grasscutter (Dark Horse, 1999) tells the story of how Usagi came to possess the legendary sword. In Grasscutter II, the samurai rabbit is trying to take it back to Atsuta where it cannot be used as a political tool to cause dissent and civil war. Unfortunately, two rival ninja clans also want it. Usagi travels with his friend Gen, the priest Sanshobo, the former samurai lord Ikeda, and the devious ninja leader, Chizu. The book is packed with battles, from Yamato-Dake's battle with a giant snake kami to the final showdown at the shrine. Sakai populates his vision of historic Japan with anthropomorphic animals. Gen is a rhino, and the warring ninja clans are comprised of cats and bats. The black-and-white artwork is distinctive and dramatic, with strong lines and many details reflective of Japanese culture. The action is easy to follow and exciting, and the Japanese words used in the text are translated in footnotes.-Susan Salpini, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

What comes after baseball, the Civil War, and jazz? Mark Twain, of course. Burns and Company are back with a four-hour PBS television series on America's favorite riverboat captain and author. The companion volume, assuredly an attempt to cash in further on all that research, is nonetheless an enticing edition in its own right. It offers a sumptuous collection of photographs, reproductions of original documents, and illustrations that capture the rough-and-tumble of Twain's life and career. Scholars in the audience might turn their noses up at the crisply informal bits of biography-some recreated so vividly that they seem ready for the stage-but even the most curmudgeonly will be enraptured by the scores of photos. General audiences will be beguiled by yet another heaping dose of Burns et al.'s sprawling yet intimate portraiture. The arc of Twain's life is captured with sweeping flourishes of fact supplemented by intimate details of his home and family life. The letter he wrote to his children as Santa Claus, his grief over his son's death from diphtheria, and his joy when the public library of Concord, Massachusetts, banned Huckleberry Finn illuminate the private life of 19th-century America's most public figure. Twain's trademark wanderlust kept the adventures coming during his life, and they make for fascinating reading today. Russell Banks, John Boyer, Jocelyn Chadwick, Hal Holbrook, and Ron Powers also contribute to the volume; the best of this bunch is Chadwick's meditation on Twain's use of the word "nigger" as she ponders the intersections of yesterday's racial politics, their present-day afterlife, and the ways they affect Twain's writing. Pick this cornucopia up for thepictures and you'll probably end up reading the whole thing. A coffee-table volume that someone might actually read-and enjoy. The wonders of Burns and Company never cease. (110 b&w and 40 color illustrations) First printing of 100,000

APR/MAY 02 - AudioFile

This is the audio that accompanies the book that accompanies Ken Burns’s documentary film. Twice as long as the public television original, it elaborates somewhat upon the biographical and critical material that the movie only touches upon. Nonetheless, it is no less superficial, compared to the several superb biographies, popular and scholarly, that have appeared since the author’s death. It’s Twain 101, presented in a jocular, informal narrative, with liberal quotes from its subject’s own writing. The whole relies not a whit on the film’s audio, except for a bit of music. The text is read--superbly--by Bill Meisle. Possessed of a very pleasant, mature voice and employing a conversational volume, he trots through the prose a bit too briskly, perhaps so that the material will fit on no more than six cassettes. Even so, he misses none of the meaning and nicely transitions from narration to quotation. Where he must slow down, he does. He displays, in fact, a fine ear for timing--not necessarily to bring a joke home, but to make the narrative as a whole musical and attractive. Y.R Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2003 Audie Award Finalist © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178847756
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	11/13/2001
Edition description:	Abridged

Read an Excerpt

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 sorry. 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.

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