Mark Twain: A Life

Mediocre biographies are medicore for the same reason that boring histories are boring: they list facts and dates while providing little context that brings the subject to life. But good biographies bring the emotion, the context, the why behind the what, that brings you into intimate contact with a vibrant human life. Ron Power's Mark Twain is of the "good biography" sort. Indeed, it proved far more fascinating and readable than I had reason to suspect it would be when I bought it on a lark. Mark Twain comes through in clear colors. One can easily imagine the impact this wild fellow had with his drawl, rolling walk, and incisve humor. In addition, one comes away with an understanding of how Mark Twain was woven into the fabric on 19th Century USA. The relationship between Clemens/Twain and his time is as interesting as the man himself.

Power's biography was refreshing and interesting on every page. Honestly, there was never a dull page. He effectively weaves into a coherent whole the life experiences of Samuel Clemens, the shaping forces that stimulated the growth of Mark Twain the writer, and the life those books had in 19th Century US as a whole. This tri-fold story is woven together seamlessly and dynamically. One comes away learning so much about a remarkable American icon as well as the nature of the times he lived in.

Obviously, I really liked this book. It has piqued me to re-read Twain, and read some of Twain's works that I have never read. I would think that anyone interested in writing, literature, and American history would enjoy Power's biography as thoroughly as I did.

This book includes too much detail. While obviously well-researched, I found myself saying “so what” way too often as the author seemed to make a show of how much he knows about Twain. It’s a shame to take such an interesting person and bog his story down with clutter.

I wouldn't presume to add anything to the reviews of this book, even if I could. But I didn't find any comments on the quality of the recording, which is worth a note.

The reader is the author himself, Ron Powers. He is very easy to listen to. I find myself drifting off less than I usually do, and getting a lot more of the meat of the book. Powers manages to suggest by his voice when the subject changes or a recurrent theme appears and he clearly pronounces the punctuation that he no doubt sweated over. His imitation of Twain's voice isn't quite what I expected after Hal Holbrook, but it works to make the transitions to and from quotations very fluid, and I have begun to think of it as the voice of Twain.

All in all, I liked Power's reading as much as those of professional readers. If the book sounds good to you, I am certain you will love the audio CD.

In the interest of full disclosure, I need to say at the outset that I'm a lifelong admirer of the subject of this lively, witty biography. Born and raised in Missouri, Clemens' home state, I, like many country boys of my generation, dreamed of floating down the Mississippi on a raft. I even tried to build one; it sank, which was likely for the best. But I digress.

Ron Powers evidences great sympathy for his subject without coddling or sugar-coating the crusty curmudgeon with the wild white mane. His prose is appropriately tongue-in-cheek at times--as Twain would have wished, I think--and his research is scrupulously thorough without adopting the plodding pace that plagues so many scholarly biographies. He allows the reader to marvel at the Sage of Hannibal as he glitters in all his brilliance... and as he curdles in his own self-centered blindness.

Best of all, Powers illuminates to great advantage Mark Twain's pointed social satire and political commentary, uncovering what was, for me at least, the important and previously unknown record of Twain's scathing critiques of U.S. expansionism and colonialist exploitation in places like the Philippines during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Steaming upriver against the popular currents of the day, Twain anticipates by decades--and, in some ways, lays the groundwork for--the rhetoric of dissent that would become prominent in the 1960s.

For Twain junkies like me, or for anyone interested in the rise of the uniquely American literary voice before and during the Gilded Age, MARK TWAIN: A LIFE is a better find than the loot stashed in Injun Joe's cave.

Born Samuel Clemens, this lad grew up to be known throughout the world as "Mark Twain." His life was a rollercoaster, with great successes and great failure. His personal life underwent much tragedy, as he lost two of his three e daughters before his own death. His creative well went largely dry in his later years, while he continued turning out manuscript page after manuscript page.

This book does a nice job tracing the arc of his life from childhood, most famously in Hannibal, Missouri, to his effort to create his own career (for a time as a riverboat pilot), to his abortive career as a soldier in Missouri, to his trip west to make his mark, to. . . .

His life was rich and full--even as he experienced failure (some of his speaking tours went bust, whereas others were grand successes; he wasted a fortune on failed inventions--going bankrupt, in essence, later in his life). He was beloved by many, made friends with major figures of the day--but could easily insult people, lose his temper, and turn his back on associates.

His wife, Livy, was his partner for many years. This book also suggests very briefly here and there that Isabel Lyon and Laura Wright (later Dake) had little known roles in his life. The latter sounds innocent. The former? So little is mentioned here that that story remains in the shadows.

The story of how he created his works, from Tom Sawyer to Huck Finn and so on, is well told. The book describes nicely the early years of his writing career, as a reporter, then as a humorist, and then the evolution toward a major author. What makes this work especially interesting is the exposition of Twain's somewhat mercurial nature and his interactions with those around them. He could be hard on people; he could also be the most loyal of friends.

His last years, rather sad at that, are well described. All in all, a fine biography of an American icon. . . .

Mark Twain is most likely the most written about American author. All of his works are in print after a century and countless books have analyzed and documented his life. Two of the best works are Twain's own "The Autobiography of Mark Twain" (400+ pages), edited by Twain scholar Charles Neider, and the Pulizer Prize biography by Justin Kaplan, "Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain" (500+ pages).

Ron Powers has contributed another biography with his "Mark Twain: A Life" (700+ pages). He has taken a "just the facts" approach to the details of Twain's life and avoided Mr. Kaplan's interpretive/psychoanalysis of Twain's Missouri youth, later depression and family tragedies.

What book should the reader chose? Well, Mr. Kaplan's book is still the Gold Standard, if for no other reason than its brilliant writing. Mr. Powers has researched a more detailed and traditional biography of Twain. But, for sheer fun, Mark Twain's own words (accurate or not) are among the funniest and most satirical he has ever written, while the closing chapter on the death of his daughter, Jean, are the most haunting and heart-rending you will ever read.

This book is an astoundingly granular review of the life of Samuel Clemens. The character who emerges is a complex dynamo who becomes the interpreter of the Gilded Age. Certain thematic threads pull Clemens along...the wistful longing of eternal youth; the lifelong preoccupation with sealing the deal that his father and brother never could, and that eluded him until the end; and the ghosts of love and loved ones lost. Powers is sometimes ham-handed in attempting to equate Mark Twain with a modern-day media darling, but that is thin gruel as stylistic faux paux. Likewise, the case is made for growth in this southerners social attitudes, but again the facts don't substantiate the claim. Overall, though, as a substantial work with a broad scope, the author is most successful when he presents Twain in the context of a rapidly changing nation. Examples overflow, from the changing modes of transportation, to the technology of communication, to illumination, and illustration, among many. The ultimate beauty of this sketch is that a strong case is made for the motivations that underpinned Clemens' prodigious output. Mark Twain is the ultimate Horatio Alger story writ large.

Powers used three voices of the Samuel Clemens to tell this story. He used Sammy, the young man with his heart still in his youth; Samuel, the writer and family man and Mark Twain, American celebrity and icon. He molds these three distinct aspects into a rich vibrant human being whose greatness is tempered by his many faults.

What makes this biography so readable is that so much of it is told my Clemens. Powers extensively quotes from Twain's letters, diaries, memoirs and novels. By the time you finish this book you will have the voice of Mark Twain in your head and you'll come away with and understanding of the man and his age.

Powers gives us a terrific chronology, densely packed information, charming and insightful prose, plenty of great Twain quotes and anecdotes, empathy for the tragedies of Twain's life and twitting of his oddities when called for. I found it quite remarkable that the book could be so factual and also so readable. There's an excellent index, solid background references, and many laugh-out-loud moments. Adding to the pleasaure of this reading experience are some delightful and - new to me - photographs. Strongly recommend this outstanding biography.

Admittedly, I have read little of Mark Twain's work. But I love reading biographies, and he seemed like a fascinating man. And this book proved to me that he was.

It was interesting to learn about his marriage, his home life, his experiences as a youth, and how his books came about. He was truly a funny and loving man. I am no great scholar or anything, but this is a great read.

At last! A rational, reasonable, but above all readable account of the man who gave the United States its most realistic voice. Biographies of Mark Twain are ranked along the shelves. From Paine through De Voto to Lystra's scurrilous depiction, Twain has been the subject of idolisation and iconoclasm. The Kaplans severed him and sutured him, but Twain has survived them all. Powers does more than simply restore Twain's reputation. He provides a picture of Clemens the man. More importantly, Powers gives us Clemens the observer, recorder and writer. The result is a robust work that will outlast its predecessors.

The past generation, tainted with "deconstruction", Freudian, feminist and anti-racist analyses of who Samuel Langhorne Clemens was, leaves many wondering why he should be venerated. Accusations of "crude" and "unlettered" still drift though writings about him. Powers lays these to rest with gentle, if firm, dismissals. Like any man, Clemens had his faults and foibles. His failures at business are the stuff of legend, but it was an era of freebooting capitalism. No vaccine had been developed to inoculate the innocent, and innocence was considered a virtue in Clemens' time. Powers carefully relates how "Sammy" who wanted to live forever on the Mississippi River, was snatched away from a life of absolute power - no-one dared challenge a steamboat pilot - to partake of an era for which he had no briefing.

From the childhood on the River, dominated by his austere father and religious mother, Sam Clemens moved across America to avoid the conflict he had no taste for. The escape to Nevada and the Comstock opened many opportunities for discovery. His own Mother Lode turned out to be people. Powers follows Clemens on his prospecting for personalities. The mining ventures, the reporter's role and world travel each produced their own literary nuggets. In a time without jets or SUVs, Clemens' voyages seem almost astonishing. Yet every trip and their stops provided fresh nuggets he would refine and reproduce for our delight. Powers shows that the portrayals are far more than just "reporting" on the Western way of life. They are harbingers of what was making the United States

Powers' view of his subject avoids the popular form of "deep" analysis. Instead, he demonstrates how far-reaching Twain's views proved. He found his nation's imperialist ventures abhorrent, and Powers' presentation of it is subtly topical. He uses Clemens' voice for his own - "he made a book of a Paige" referring to the aftermath of the bankruptcy would be a perfect Twain aphorism. Powers carefully analyses Clemens' writing prowess, noting both strengths and weaknesses with professional candor. "Huckleberry Finn", considered by many to be the greatest of the novels, takes a sharp turn in Powers view. The "break", he says, follows the "Wagnerian aria" of Huck's damning himself for protecting Jim's identity. Following that event, the biographer condemns Tom Sawyer's "evasion" scheme as anticlimatic to the vitality of this outstanding work.

Having produced a "life" that reads with an easy familiarity, Powers should be applauded for restoring Clemens as a human being, a literary icon and as the voice of the United States of his day. Clemens successfully broke the patterns of both Boston Brahmin intellectualism and the frequently disdainful view of Victorian commentators. Powers manages this without speculation or judgement, simply offering Twain's expressive words in their context. Having produced other works about Clemens' youth and environment, he's capped the "set" with an outstanding biography. Anyone wishing to learn about Clemens should start here. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

An interesting biography of Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemens, a journalist and a writer.

Although he had no formal education, Mark Twain was arguably the best English language writer since Shakespeare, with his greatest contribution to the American literature being the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Mark Twain traveled around the world, and had a great sense of humanity

He was a patriot who loved his country and the 19th century. But he condemned his American society for its hypocrisy. He was anti-colonial and anti-imperialist. He condemned the US for the invasion of Cuba and the Philippines, and the annexation of its neighbor, Mexico.

An interesting biography of Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemens, a journalist and a writer.

Although he had no formal education, Mark Twain was arguably the best English language writer since Shakespeare, with his greatest contribution to the American literature being the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Mark Twain traveled around the world, and had a great sense of humanity

He was a patriot who loved his country and the 19th century. But he condemned his American society for its hypocrisy. He was anti-colonial and anti-imperialist. He condemned the US for the invasion of Cuba and the Philippines, and the annexation of its neighbor, Mexico.

You don't need to be incredibly familiar with Mark Twain's novels to follow this biography. In an apparently un-Twain-like linear fashion, Powers discusses the sources of Sam Clemens' stories while describing the formative years of his life. He then references these early experiences in later chapters when discussing the motivation behind each of Twain's works. He goes into great detail about the writing process, how manuscripts can begin vigorously, be set aside for a decade, then finished when enough inspiration has accumulated or enough memories have congealed to round out the story.

I don't think I've ever read a biography of an author. But Sam Clemens' lead a hectic life outside of literature. Powers covers everything from Clemens' boyhood adventures to his myopic business ventures, from his glory days as a Mississippi steamboat pilot to his failure as a Nevadan silver miner. Once his personal life is fleshed out and his acquaintances are described, it's easier to see how the writing of Mark Twain became the copyrighted American voice of the late 19th century.

My only serious complaint about this biography is the vocabulary. How many times can you drop the word "absquatulated" in a book and not sound pompous?

Mark Twain and his volatile life have often been microscopically filleted until one literally can't see the whole man for the particular interpretation of him. This is certainly an understandable scholarly approach with such a wealth of material to deal with. But now in Ron Powers's holistic Twain book we see the parts finally coalesce into the whole fascinating fellow.

Twain was impish, outrageous, sentimental, crass, heroic, vituperative, venal, generous, vain, insecure, self destructive, self regenerating, almost mystically prolific and uncompromisingly brilliant but above all passionately human. Thanks to Powers's watershed book, we can see just how human. The many letters from which he has quoted contain Twain's trademark yin yang of self deprecation and hilarity. The narrative is so seamless that there are times it is difficult to see where Twain's writing leaves off and Powers's begins.

Most are accustomed to the beloved Twain of both white suit and hair (and occasional red socks) featured center stage, spouting quotable humorous yarns, culminating with the zinger of truth. In Powers's book, Twain is still in the spotlight, but now the house lights have been turned on to reveal the rest of the cast. What a cast, and what a stage America was! Twain starts strutting America's proscenium in the mid 1800's when the country traveled by horse and buggy or river steamboat. He goes from preteen unpaid cub typesetter and nascent reporter to Mississippi riverboat pilot, then carouses through the gold pixilated West, making his bones as mining town reporter where facts were meant to be flexible. Later he starts his lecture circuit, eventually becoming as famous and apparently as temperamental as the most worshiped of our contemporary rock stars. Mark Twain as chick magnet. Who knew?

Back East, he finds his mentor and eventual life-long friend, editor-critic William Dean Howells; writes his first smash hit, the comic travelogue "Innocents Abroad," then meets, woos and weds his dear aristocratic Livy. He travels, publishes more books, pens "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and much later his masterpiece "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

Twain criticizes but personally revels in the wealth of the "Gilded Age", (which he named in a novel of that title), throws lavish parties and rubs shoulders with writers, generals, presidents, and robber barons. Eventually he even turns publisher of Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs, rescuing the dying general's family from bankruptcy. All the while he is writing letters by the basketful to family, friends, and foes. Somewhere In the process of traveling to write travelogues and lecturing to repay debts, he becomes world renowned. In the end, despite losing a fortune and most of his dear family, and having to lecture to repay his almost infantile business investments, he never stops observing, writing "appearing" and critiquing his 19th century even into on into the nascent 20th century. Twain endures.

In addition to his humor, Powers highlights Twain's revolutionary literary voice; his unique take on `our' particular American voices. In an age characterized by "polite" Victorian prose, Twain wrote in the American vernacular, not to ridicule, but to capture and popularize the cadences of ordinary people for the first time. The voices of Huckleberry Finn and Jim explode the myth of the contented slave in a time when people still hung on to the concept of slavery as divine right. There are other voices in the book. The voices of Twain's contemporaries as seen by Twain pop to life in his correspondence and are further lovingly delineated by Powers. Of course there is the actual written or spoken voice of Twain as lecturer, letter writer, critic, and occasional mock rube. Again, the voice. It's his humor, his humanity, his self deprecation and his passion for life that we hear.

If you are used to dry biographies, throw away your pre-conceptions. This book has been written by someone with a unique voice. It is scholarly, but graced with wry humor, it's informative, but above all, it is wildly entertaining. Twain is never ever dull. He could not have chosen a biographer with a voice more suited to his work.

Joan Hibbard Ryan

Mr. Powers leaves every other Mark Twain biographer in the dust. This work is not only beautifully detailed and researched; it is a constantly engaging 'page turner.' Beyond all that Mr. Power's own gift as a writer is extraordinary...his words literally leap from the page. One of the best reads I have had in a long time.

Mark Twain, famous for his pithy observations, may have had this to say about biographies: "Biographies, like revenge, are best served cold."

Author Ron Powers, however, serves up a very warm and frothy biography of the American humorist, writer and all-purpose rascal. His detailed scholarship is fogged by starry-eyed cheerleading and earns this book three stars.

A biographer must be respectful of their subject's literary and cultural alchemy while not being seduced by it. Powers seems spellbound, however, essentially dismissing Twain's racial, sexual and personality conflicts as well as his more controversial and less popular writings later in life - none of which detract from Twain's overall contributions to American life or letters.

These omissions, though, mightily detract from this work.

Twain's voice is remarkably and admirably present, but unchallenged in this work giving Powers' book a very one-sided, almost autobiographical feel.

Twain said, "An autobiography that leaves out the little things and enumerates only the big ones is no proper picture of the man's life at all...." The same can be said of this biography.

This thorough and well-written biography of a gifted indivudual leaves one with the feeling of having known Mark Twain, Samuel Clemmens, personally. The book offers two additional values: One is getting a glinpse of what life was like during the late 19th century. The other is what it meant to experience the Civil War from a state so far removed from the action that the war seemed to be going on in another country.

Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) was born in Florida Missouri in 1835 to John Marshall Clemens and his good wife Jane. Clemens grew up in Hannibal up the river from St. Louis. Times were hard on the hardscrabble frontier. His father tried many professions from Law to various failed busines ventures never succeeding in

any of them, His mother raised a large family giving young Clemens love and support throughout her long life.

Clemens was a man who tried many paths to riches. He was a

steamboat pilot on the Mississippi learning this trade under the

inimitable pilot Horace Bixby. He was a printer,jounralist in Neveda and in California and even served a few weeks as a Confederate Soldier. Twain grew up hard, was complex, profane

and eager to get rich. He was also a genius of the written word

who wrote such classics as "Tom Sawyer"; "Huckleberry Finn" "The

Prince and the Pauper" and several other works. His writing was uneven being weak in plotting but strong on humor and the sage

use of accurate dialect. Twain spoke for the common person in the Gilded Age of big money and the power of the giants of industry such as Carneige, Rockerfeller, Gould and JP Morgan.

Twain married the wealthy Olivia Langdon living in luxury in

a succesion of homes in Buffalo, Elmira NY and most notably in

Hartford, Conn.

His wife was frail and died at 57. His son died after 19 months of life. His oldest daughter Susy and youngest daughter

Jean predeceased him. Only his middle daughter Clara outlived

Twain who died in 1910.

Twain is known for his humor but was a religious skeptic with

a dark vision of humanity. His cynicism, anti-imperialism and

bad temper are rarely mentioned or known among the general public.

Reading this book is a wondeerful insight into the peripatetic

lecturer Twain as he and his family traveled thousands of miles

on tours living in Europe for years to avoid bills and generally

knowing everyone worth knowing in the nineteenth century world of politics, literature and the arts. Twain's friendship with

US Grant seeing to the publication of his memoirs is a moving

story. His petty jealousies and mistreatment of his older brother

Orion is not pretty.

Twain's deepest friendship was with fellow midwesterner William Dean Howells who edited the Atlantic, Cosmoplitan and

also was a famous author of such classics as "The Rise of Silas

Lapham.

Twain was a complex and often difficult man who could be rude

and ungracious. His foolish quest for weath led him to invest and lose fortunes especially in his backing of the Paige typesetter.

He had many admirable traits such as his deep love for his family and friends. Mark Twain represents America and his love

of democacy is commendable.

Powers writes in a witty style which is very detailed making

use of the newly discovered papers on Twain availabe from the Mark Twain project.

His work is not as scholary as the recent biography by Fred Kaplan but is a joy for anyone wishing to know the great American Mark Twain.

Readers will be informed, entertained and be asked to think

about their own views towards life as they read Mr. Twain whose

pen was warmed up in hell and whose mind was as busy as a bee

in the starchy and prim Victorian age.

Excellent!

Ron Powers does what a good biographer is supposed to do - place Twain in his historical context, explain the formative experiences of his youth, and critically examine Twain's place in American literature and culture, and do it in an engaging and fluid prose style. Kudos.

Ron Powers' MARK TWAIN contains a great deal of valuable material. It is unfortunately marred by Powers' writing style and his unfortunate tendency to compare 19th-century Twain with various 'rock stars'. I don't know if he's trying to popularize Twain with a 'hip young audience' or what, but these anachronistic references were like pickles in a Charlotte Russe. They just don't belong there.

It's a pity since there is so much other amazing information on Twain here. The annoying asides have made it very difficult for me to finish the book. I keep putting it aside in disbelief.

No, Mark Twain was not a rock star. Got that?

Poorly edited! Some details repeated and are obvious mistakes, sentences without a clear subject, paragraphs that introduce subjects midway, arcane vocabulary... just a bit more than messy in places. Should be revised with major corrections and abridged rehabilitation. Some redeeming qualities include learning that Twain was a misogynistic, racist, antisemitic jerk with an outsized ego. Overall a tough slog; I'll finish it as a Twain completionist but a poorly framed and badly structured tome. The bad reviews here are on point and wonder if the good reviewers actually read it or are sockpuppets for the publisher.

An excellent biography marred by gratuitous left wing political commentary. I don't know why Mr. Powers decided to sprinkle those little gems throughout the text, given that they add absolutely nothing, but I wish he'd respected his subject--and his readers--enough not to intrude. If I'd wanted Powers' political views, I'd have sought out a book about him. If you can ignore the author's trespassing, it is a worthwhile read.

This book COULD have been great. Biographies are my favorite genre and I've read a bunch of them - this one falls pretty flat. The author's biases are so clearly obvious he's almost a presence in the book himself, which is distracting even if you agree with his views, and irritating if you don't. Forget Mark Twain's religious bias, the author's anti-Christian stance shines through even stronger, such as the statement that Mormons were just waiting for the Union to dissolve so that they could rise to power - and he sticks it to the Presbyterians just as badly, even misrepresenting Job from the Bible. His anti-capitalism, left-leaning political opinions come through just as clearly.

The book gives us a nice picture of the times and events in the places Sam Clemens lived - New York, San Fransisco, Carson City, etc - which is interesting in itself. But even those glimpses into American life at the time are tainted by the author's opinions. A good biographer doesn't make himself obvious in his books; he shouldn't intrude at all. Ron Powers is not a good biographer and I will not be reading any more of his books.