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21st out of 100 books
—
38 voters
Mark Twain
by
Ron Powers
Samuel Clemens, the man known as Mark Twain, invented the American voice and became one of our greatest celebrities. His life mirrored his country's, as he grew from a Mississippi River boyhood in the days of the frontier, to a Wild-West journalist during the Gold Rush, to become the king of the eastern establishment and a global celebrity as America became an internationa...more
Paperback, 736 pages
Published
May 23rd 2006
by Free Press
(first published 2005)
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For someone like me who has never studied the life of Mark Twain, nor 19th century history, at least not my attempts to not learn history in high school, this tome is quite an education. Thoroughly covers Mark Twain's life, including commentary on past writings by other authors about him. Why is it that most creative geniuses seem to be dysfunctional in everyday life? Maybe genius is part of a mental and/or emotional pathology. Anyway, not having read very many biographies, I can't say whether t...more
Aug 12, 2009
Arminius
marked it as to-read
I did not finish this book so here is my impression. One striking thing about Mark Twain is the way events in his life made an indelible impression. It something like when a child sees a rather ordinary event as an extraordinary event while an adult will view the same event as commonplace. The child will always remember the event while the adult may forget it. Twain had the gift of remembering in detail the events of his life. He recreated these impressions into print and turned into a prolific...more
Thought it was one of the best biographies I've read. Good window into American mindset, history, nuances of 19th Century. Here is an excerpt from an email I sent to a friend right after finishing the bio(subjective and a little self aggrandizing, I know...but it reveals how the bio affected me...):
Just finished the Twain bio. The trouble with biographies...they bring me way down.WAY DOWN! They immerse you in the arc of life, so there is always the verve and whoosh of the ascending curve as you...more
Just finished the Twain bio. The trouble with biographies...they bring me way down.WAY DOWN! They immerse you in the arc of life, so there is always the verve and whoosh of the ascending curve as you...more
This is an enjoyable biography that provides numerous samples of Twain’s funny phrases and platitudes. It illustrates how he was a master of the language, because much of his humor was not just what he said, but how he said it. It was ironic, and pure genius, that even though he possessed this supreme command of English and had such a deep vocabulary, his characters like Huck Finn spoke in such a backward vernacular. Clemens had a unique brand of eloquent irreverence. He was also shown to be a m...more
Of the works by Mark Twain I've only read the two most famous, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", and I have to admit that I knew next-to-nothing about this famous author other than that he grew up on the Mississippi River town of Hannibal, Missouri. I read this book on a whim and as the chapters progressed I found myself increasingly interested and by the end of the book, fascinated by this iconic literary figure.
Ron Powers makes Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain c...more
Ron Powers makes Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain c...more
It is so sad what the adults in a young child's life do to their emotional health all in the name of God and doing what is right. With an zealot of a mother and a fire and brimstone church, Twain bore the scars of his upbringing for all his life.
He blamed himself for the death of his brother. He volunteered to fight for the Confederacy but ran away when the drilling, drinking and general horseplay turned into a real fight. He challanged a man to a duel and then ran away. He spent most of his...more
He blamed himself for the death of his brother. He volunteered to fight for the Confederacy but ran away when the drilling, drinking and general horseplay turned into a real fight. He challanged a man to a duel and then ran away. He spent most of his...more
This was an incredible and witty biography, illuminating the man and through him the entire 19th century. I found wonderment and amusement and new understanding. Ron Powers is a wit who, in writing about the 19th century's great wit, does him justice. I enjoyed this book deeply. We see in it the panorama of a life richly lived. It's an unusual life, a Zelig-like tale, that continually finds Mark Twain at the center of his age. We learn that Clemmons was the original rock star, a performer. We ex...more
On page 38, a quote defines Mark Twain quite well. From Powers book, Twain wrote, "When I was a boy everybody was poor but didn't know it, and everybody was comfortable and didn't know it." In his journal 1883, Twain asked what the difference between an Englishmen and an American were. When Samual Langhorne Clemens entered this world on November 30, 1835, the prognosis was not too positive for his childhood. Even Jane Clemens, Sam's mother, did not see potential in her son. Powers provides an ex...more
Mark Twain: A Life is an audacious undertaking. Twain's singular career was so rich and varied, and his inner life so complicated, that he defies easy categorization. Except for the occasional misstep, Powers pulls it off. He marshaled his own considerable expertise and mined the archives of the Mark Twain Papers project to produce a narrative that not only documents Twain's life but also demonstrates how the great author personified an emerging nation. Critics agreed that the book's historical
...more
This book is more interesting if the index is used to find topics of interest. I find that I pick up the book every now and then and will do this. Whatever I read is interesting. But when I read the book from the beginning, it seemed tedious. Twain is an interesting life, no doubt.
"A dog is der Hund the dog; a women is die Frau the wom[an]; a horse is das Pferd, the horse; now you put that dog in the Genitive case, & is he the same dog he was before? No sir; he is das Hundes; put him in the Dative case & what is he? Why, he is dem Hund. Now you snatch him into the accusative case & how is it with him? Why he is den Hunden? ... Read moreBut suppose he happens to be twins & you have to pluralize him – what then? Why sir they’ll swap that twin dog around thro...more
It could be argued that Samuel Clemens's life is more representative of "19th century America" than the characters in his stories. He flirted with fighting for the south in the Civil War but had enough sense to head for California and Nevada instead. Everyone knows he was a successful writer, but he was also an unsuccessful entrepreneur, losing most of his fortune in failed business schemes. First as a journalist and then as a public speaker and humorist he developed views on religion, politics,...more
Having read only Huckleberry Finn for school, I knew very little about Mark Twain's life coming into this book. I was totally blown away by the skill of Powers' writing and completely fascinated by the story of Twain's life. Powers does an excellent job giving us the whole man, presented with all his sins and virtues in the context of the era he lived in. I've been aware for some time that Mark Twain made a very valuable contribution to American literature, but this book gave me a new appreciati...more
A fine biography of Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens. The book traces the arc of his life from a hardscrabble beginning, living in a family with a father who had dreams of "aming it" but who could never quite reach that dream, often lkeaving the family in rather straitened circumstances. It details his maturing and his start in writing. One leaqrns that he wrote a lot of works that never were finished or--if finished--published. He paid a price for poor investments, but was always able to "come b...more
At times riveting, like when the author chronicles the writing of Huck Finn and his other texts, or when providing an overview of the newspaper and magazine industries in the Gilded Age. Often, though, it dwells too long on Clemens's financial troubles, his half-baked get-rich-quick investments, or on other esoterica like the political scene in pre-statehood Nevada.
The overwhelming impression the book leaves about Twain the author is that, despite writing classics like "The Innocents Abroad," "...more
The overwhelming impression the book leaves about Twain the author is that, despite writing classics like "The Innocents Abroad," "...more
Dec 06, 2010
David Melbie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
writers
Recommended to David by:
picked myself
Wonderful book! I am impressed with Mr. Powers -- he has a nice writing style and I was captivated by this life story of someone I've known about most of my life, but only now really understand the man, Samuel L. Clemens. . .
. . . one bit of inspiration I gained from reading this biography (really, one should be discouraged by this) is the agony that Mark Twain exhibited early on each time he gave birth to a story. He put his all into it. That inspires me to trudge on and work harder at my own w...more
. . . one bit of inspiration I gained from reading this biography (really, one should be discouraged by this) is the agony that Mark Twain exhibited early on each time he gave birth to a story. He put his all into it. That inspires me to trudge on and work harder at my own w...more
Mark Twain has always been an intriguing character for me. I've read lots of his books, and they generally have been good, not great. But Twain was such an incredible character who stood up to the powers that be. This is a very detailed book that captures the feel and tone of the day. By giving Twain's story this texture and depth, it really adds complexity that I'd never known about. His early years were captivating - who knew the lost love of his life had such an impact on him. Right through t...more
A reader of this book could not, I think, complain because Powers did not include enough facts about Mark Twain. They could, however, accuse him of incorporating too much. Mark Twain was a very restless soul and was constantly on the move from place to place, but some of his travels were not, in my opinion, worth wasting paper and time on.
However, because of Powers inclusive bent I learned a great deal about Twain, his family, friends, illnesses, writing, stage craft, finances, feuds, and lousy...more
However, because of Powers inclusive bent I learned a great deal about Twain, his family, friends, illnesses, writing, stage craft, finances, feuds, and lousy...more
So it took me over a year to finish this book. I think that has more to do with my lukewarm attitude towards nonfiction in general than it has to do with this book in particular, but nonetheless I don't think anyone would call it a page-turner.
This is the first biography of Twain I have read, and I have yet to read much of Twain's work itself, so I came into this thing pretty ignorant. I think that ignorance diminished my appreciation of the book, because I got the sense that Powers was respondi...more
This is the first biography of Twain I have read, and I have yet to read much of Twain's work itself, so I came into this thing pretty ignorant. I think that ignorance diminished my appreciation of the book, because I got the sense that Powers was respondi...more
Powers's profile is much more nuanced than the common image of Twain as a genial wit. He certainly was flawed; Powers doesn't leave anything out. Twain was alternately supportive and hugely cruel to his hapless brother, Orion, whose particular talent was finding ways to lose money. I wonder if this ever caused Twain a twinge later, when he himself had to be rescued from financial peril by the industrialist Henry Rogers.
It seems to me that Twain's books were driven more by commercial necessity t...more
It seems to me that Twain's books were driven more by commercial necessity t...more
To come to the genre of Twain biographies this late in the game and still bring so much new material to the table is, to my mind, an amazing accomplishment. On top of being a marvelous and attentive Twain scholar he also has about the best prose style of any biographer I have ever read. There can be no "ultimate" Twain biography as the subject just will not fit between two cover, but this combined with Powers first foray, DANGEROUS WATERS comes mighty close.
This is a deep, incisive, and insightful biography of Mark Twain, told largely through his letters, and notebooks. It does engage in remote psychoanalysis, but at least has the decency to support its conclusions with exhaustive citation. A few of the vignettes came close to brining me to tears. Twain seems to have really lived most of the great and lasting images of Antebellum, post-bellum, and Gilded Age America.
I learned a few interesting things from the book. First, that Twain was generally u...more
I learned a few interesting things from the book. First, that Twain was generally u...more
Nov 14, 2008
Nina
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Any one intrested in History.
Recommended to Nina by:
My book club members
I am currently reading this book for my book critique group. I doubt I get it finished in time for our meeting but not because it isn't interesting. Whenever I snatch a few minutes I'm into Twain. Great writing and didn't I think I knew most everything I needed to know about him? Yes, but I was wrong; even after the excellent PBS segment on Twain and visiting his home in Hartford, CT I am amazed at all I have learned in a few short sections of the book. I recommend it even though I am not finish...more
It's pretty good if not a little long at times. I wish Powers would gloss over the mundane details on Twain's endless touring and focus more on the big picture and representative antecdotes. On the plus side, there are genuinely funny passages written by Powers, and Mark Twain is (of course) also funny.
An insightful biography from the standpoint of the personal life; it left a little something to be desired from the standpoint of a literary biography. Also was disappointed that Powers glossed over much of the literary output in the 1890s and 1900s, including Puddnhead Wilson and "The Mysterious Stranger."
A bit too much textual analysis for, wait... let me see here... yep, this is a biography of the author's life. Ah, well, guess you gotta fill the publisher's word quota somehow. Being able to utilize some of the recently unearthed documents, letters, et.al. were a nice addition to the standard bio affair.
In a word, brilliant. Ron Powers not only captured details of Twain's life, but he did it in a way Twain himself might have done, with wry wit and aplomb. A must-read for anyone seeking to broaden their understanding of this 19th century American treasure.
This is an in depth and well written biography that I plan to read again. For me it was even better because I liked the subject, Mark twain/Sam Clemens even more at the end of the book. this is not always true of biographies.
Then I became a fan of Mark Twain. He was an irreverent, fascinating man. His life is as eventful and colorful as any of his novels, just as plain and straightforward. He was a genius in a plain wrapper.
Nov 16, 2007
Catherine Brown
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
a person who enjoys discovering the joint effect of history on literature and vice versa.
So much! I am only 1/4 of the way into the book, and admittedly, it is not a fast read. So far, however, every minute has been worth the effort. What an incredible man, far different that the sterotyped figure we studied in high school and even college. His desire to be where history was happening, even at an early life, so shaped his writing throughout his life. To think that he produced what he did with no education to speak of -- save from his mother who was a teacher and a very bright woman...more
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Ron Powers (born 1941) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, novelist, and non-fiction writer. His face include White Town Drowsing: Journeys to Hannibal, Dangerous Water: A Biography of the Boy Who Became Mark Twain, and Mark Twain: A Life. With James Bradley, he co-wrote the 2000 #1 New York Times Bestseller Flags of Our Fathers.
Powers won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1973 for his criti...more
More about Ron Powers...
Powers won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1973 for his criti...more
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Dec 16, 2008 08:04pm