Mark Twain’s Mississippi River: An Illustrated Chronicle of the Big River in Samuel Clemens’s Life and Works

Description

Combine the wild waters of the Mississippi River and wordsmith Mark Twain, and what have you got? Some of the most famous and familiar literary works in American history, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Gilded Age, and Life on the Mississippi. Twain spent the first half of his life on and around the river, from his boyhood home in Hannibal, Missouri, to his years as a steamboat pilot, during which he traveled up and down the river as far south as New Orleans. Commemorating one of America's most beloved authors and the landscape he portrayed in his works, Mark Twain's Mississippi River includes illustrations from various editions of his books, both fiction and nonfiction; maps; historical photographs; landscape paintings of the river and its inhabitants; and modern photography of towns and countryside, showing how much the landscape has changed (or hasn't) since the days of Huckleberry Finn. Filled with excerpts, quotations, newspaper clippings, and commentaries, this book is full of historical information about the life of Samuel Clemens, his literary creations, and the river that figured so prominently in both. With over 200 beautiful photos and a knowledgeable narrative written by Twain scholar and author R. Kent Rasmussen, Mark Twain’s Mississippi River is simply a joy to read for anyone who loves to discover the reality behind the writer. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 5 CONTENTS......Page 7 INTRODUCTION: MARK TWAIN AND THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER......Page 8 CHAPTER 1 THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE RIVER AND THE DAWN OF STEAMBOATING......Page 16 CHAPTER 2 MARK TWAIN’S EARLY LIFE AND TIMES, 1839–1856......Page 34 CHAPTER 3 MARK TWAIN’S STEAMBOATING YEARS, 1857–1861......Page 54 CHAPTER 4 MARK TWAIN’S RETURN TO THE RIVER IN 1882 AND LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI......Page 100 CHAPTER 5 THE RIVER IN TOM SAWYER, HUCKLEBERRY FINN, AND PUDD’NHEAD WILSON......Page 128 CHAPTER 5 TWAIN’S LEGACY AND THE RIVER SINCE HIS TIME......Page 160 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 174 L......Page 176 W......Page 177 ABOUT THE AUTHOR......Page 178