A Historical Guide to Mark Twain

Mark Twain (born Samuel Clemens), a former printer's apprentice,journalist, steamboat pilot, lapsed Confederate soldier, and miner, remains tothis day one of the most enduring and beloved of America's great writers.Combining cultural criticism with historical scholarship, A Historical Guide toMark Twain addresses a wide range of topics relevant to Twain's work, includingreligion, commerce, race, gender, social class, and imperialism. Like all of theHistorical Guides to American Authors, this volume includes an introduction, abrief biography, a bibliographic essay, and an illustrated chronology of theauthor's life and times.

Shelley Fisher Fishkin is Professor of English and American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the editor of The Oxford Mark Twain and author of Was Huck Black? (OUP) and Lighting Out for the Territory (OUP).