{"product_id":"9780525561743","title":"Mark Twain","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Bestseller • One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2025• A \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eNotable Book • Named a Best Book of 2025 by \u003ci\u003eTIME\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e The Guardian, Bloomberg\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Christian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Comprehensive, enthralling . . . \u003ci\u003eMark Twain\u003c\/i\u003e flows like the Mississippi River, its prose propelled by Mark Twain’s own exuberance.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Chernow writes with such ease and clarity . . . For all its length and detail, [\u003ci\u003eMark Twain\u003c\/i\u003e] is deeply absorbing throughout.” — \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow illuminates the full, fascinating, and complex life of the writer long celebrated as the father of American literature, Mark Twain\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBefore he was Mark Twain, he was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Born in 1835, he would become America’s first, and most influential, literary celebrity, writing under a pen name that he would immortalize. After establishing himself as a journalist, satirist, and lecturer, he eventually settled in Hartford with his wife and three daughters, where he went on to write \u003ci\u003eThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAdventures of Huckleberry Finn\u003c\/i\u003e. Twain threw himself into the hurly-burly of American culture and emerged as the nation’s most notable political pundit. At the same time, his madcap business ventures eventually bankrupted him and, to economize, Twain and his family spent nine eventful years in exile in Europe. He suffered many family tragedies, and the last stage of his life was marked by heartache, political crusades, and eccentric behavior that sometimes obscured darker forces at play.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this richly nuanced portrait of Mark Twain, acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow brings his considerable powers to bear on a man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune, and crafted his persona with meticulous care. Drawing on Twain’s bountiful archives, including thousands of letters and hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, Chernow masterfully captures the man whose career reflected the country’s westward expansion, industrialization, and foreign wars, and who was the most important white author of his generation to grapple so fully with the legacy of slavery. Today, more than one hundred years after his death, Twain’s writing continues to be read, debated, and quoted. In this brilliant work of scholarship, a moving tribute to the writer’s talent and humanity, Chernow reveals the magnificent and often maddening life of one of the most original characters in American history.","brand":"Ron Chernow","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback Trade paperback (US)","offer_id":46895074443452,"sku":"9780525561743","price":34.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0694\/8559\/2764\/files\/BNCImageAPI_744b6f43-76e7-4f0b-aed7-7b8783e370d7.jpg?v=1780501852","url":"https:\/\/wordsquirrelbooks.com\/products\/9780525561743","provider":"Word Squirrel Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}