mark twain to the person sitting in darkness

The United States military involvement in Cuba, China, and the Philippines turned Twain’s attention to political satire and invective.

This edition also presents several of his famous and successful speeches and toasts, such as “Woman-God Bless Her” and “Advice to Youth.” Such writings brought Twain immense success on the public lecture circuit, as did his notorious “Whittier Birthday Speech,” which portrayed Boston’s most revered men of letters as a band of desperadoes. He wrote about political bosses, jumping frogs, robber barons, cats, women’s suffrage, temperance, petrified men, the bicycle, the Franco-Prussian War, the telephone, the income tax, the insanity defense, injudicious swearing, and the advisability of political candidates preemptively telling the worst about themselves before others get around to it.Īmong the stories included here are “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog,” which won him instant fame when published in 1865, and the charming “A Cat Tale,” written for his daughters’ private amusement. Arranged chronologically and containing many pieces restored to the form in which Twain intended them to appear, the volumes show with unprecedented clarity the literary evolution of Mark Twain over six decades of his career.Īs a riverboat pilot, Confederate irregular, silver miner, frontier journalist, and publisher, Twain witnessed the tragicomic beginning of the Civil War in Missouri, the frenzied opening of the West, and the feverish corruption, avarice, and ambition of the Reconstruction era. The Library of America edition of Mark Twain’s short writings is the most comprehensive collection ever published: nearly three hundred stories, sketches, burlesques, tall tales, hoaxes, speeches, and satires.

Two clothbound, slipcased volumes | 2,126 pages

Mark twain to the person sitting in darkness