Mark Twain: A Life from Beginning to End

Mark Twain is best known as the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His authentic voice, humor, and use of vernacular language undeniably changed American literature—some have called him the Father of American Literature.

Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Clemens, a man whose adventures carried him from his boyhood home in Hannibal, Missouri—the memories of which inspired Tom Sawyer—to the American West, and eventually around the world. While his story is a fascinating one in itself, containing happiness and success as well as sorrow and bitterness, it also places the writings of Mark Twain in context, offering greater understanding of works that are still impacting the world today.