Mark Twain

Roughing It by Mark Twain. Roughing It is a book of semi-autobiographical travel literature by Mark Twain. It was written in 1870-71 and published in 1872, as a prequel to his first travel book The Innocents Abroad (1869). The book follows the travels of young Mark Twain through the Wild West during the years 1861-1867. After a brief stint as a Confederate cavalry militiaman (not included in the account), he joined his brother Orion Clemens, who had been appointed Secretary of the Nevada Territory, on a stagecoach journey west. Twain consulted his brother's diary to refresh his memory and borrowed heavily from his active imagination for many stories in the book.

The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain. The Mysterious Stranger is a novel attempted by the American author Mark Twain. He worked on it intermittently from 1897 through 1908. Twain wrote multiple versions of the story; each involves a supernatural character called "Satan" or "No. 44". All the versions remained unfinished (with the debatable exception of the last one, No. 44, the Mysterious Stranger). In 1590, three boys, Theodor, Seppi, and Nikolaus, live relatively happy simple lives in a remote Austrian village called Eseldorf (German for "Assville" or "Donkeytown"). The story is narrated by Theodor, the village organist's son. Other local characters include Father Peter, his niece Marget, and the astrologer. One day, a handsome teenage boy named Satan appears in the village. He explains that he is an angel and the nephew of the fallen angel whose name he shares. Young Satan performs several magical feats. He claims to be able to foresee the future and informs the group of unfortunate events that will soon befall those they care about. The boys don't believe Satan's claims until one of his predictions comes true. Satan proceeds to describe further tragedies that will befall their friends. The boys beg Satan to intercede. Satan agrees but operates under the technical definition of mercy. For instance, instead of a lingering death due to illness, Satan simply causes one of Theodor's friends to die immediately. Contents: The Mysterious Stranger, A Fable, Hunting the Deceitful Turkey, The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm

Tom Canty, youngest son of a poor family living in Offal Court located in London, has always aspired to a better life, encouraged by the local priest, who has taught him to read and write. Loitering around the palace gates one day, he meets Edward Tudor, the Prince of Wales. Coming too close in his intense excitement, Tom is nearly caught and beaten by the Royal Guards. However, Edward stops them and invites Tom into his palace chamber. There, the two boys get to know one another. Fascinated by each other's life and their uncanny resemblance to each other and learning they were even born on the same day, they decide to switch places "temporarily." The Prince momentarily goes outside, quickly hiding an article of national importance, which the reader later learns is the Great Seal of England, but dressed as Tom, he is not recognized by the guards, who drive him from the palace, and he eventually finds his way through the streets to the Canty home. There, he is subjected to the brutality of Tom's alcoholic and abusive father, from whom he manages to escape, and meets one Miles Hendon, a soldier and nobleman returning from war. Although Miles does not believe Edward's claims to royalty, he humors him and becomes his protector. Meanwhile, news reaches them that King Henry VIII has died and Edward is now the King.

"Those Extraordinary Twins" was published as a short story, separate and distinct from its origins inside Twain's "The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson". As Twain explains, he extricated "Twins" from "Pudd'nhead" when he found, as he was writing, that he'd created a farce inside a tragedy. This is the excised farce, a story about Italian Siamese twins who completely take over a small Missouri town, splitting it down the middle with half supporting one head and the other, the other.

First published in 1899, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain explores themes of sinfulness and righteousness, hypocrisy, vengeance, and redemption through the tale of a supposedly incorruptible town and one man's efforts to undermine its reputation. The story begins with the narrator stating that Hadleyburgis known throughout America as a decent town whose honest and honorable residents are sheltered from temptation. However, the town managed to offend a stranger in some unspecified way and he decides to take vengeance by sullying the town's reputation and exposing its hypocrisy.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Some early editions are titled A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur. In the book, a Yankee engineer from Connecticut named Hank Morgan receives a severe blow to the head and is somehow transported in time and space to England during the reign of King Arthur. After some initial confusion and his capture by one of Arthur's knights, Hank realizes that he is actually in the past, and he uses his knowledge to make people believe that he is a powerful magician. The ungentle laws and customs touched upon in this tale are historical, and the episodes which are used to illustrate them are also historical. It is not pretended that these laws and customs existed in England in the sixth century; no, it is only pretended that inasmuch as they existed in the English and other civilizations of far later times, it is safe to consider that it is no libel upon the sixth century to suppose them to have been in practice in that day also. One is quite justified in inferring that whatever one of these laws or customs was lacking in that remote time, its place was competently filled by a worse one.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry "Huck" Finn, the narrator. The story begins in fictional St. Petersburg, Missouri, on the shore of the Mississippi River "forty to fifty years ago". Huckleberry "Huck" Finn and his friend, Thomas "Tom" Sawyer, have each come into a considerable sum of money as a result of their earlier adventures. Finding civilized life confining, his spirits are raised somewhat when Tom Sawyer helps him to escape one night past Miss Watson's slave Jim, to meet up with Tom's gang of self-proclaimed "robbers."

Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother Sid. He skips school to swim and is made to whitewash the fence the next day as punishment. He cleverly persuades his friends to trade him small treasures for the privilege of doing his work. Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town, and persuades her to get "engaged" by kissing him. But their romance collapses when she learns Tom has been "engaged" previously to Amy Lawrence. Shortly after Becky shuns him, he accompanies Huckleberry Finn to the graveyard at night, where they witness a trio of body snatchers, Dr. Robinson, Muff Potter, and Injun Joe, getting into a fight in which Robinson is murdered by Injun Joe.

Rare and elegant classic cream paper edition. The more than 600 stories written by O. Henry provided an embarrassment of riches for the compilers of this volume. The final selection of the ten stories in this collection offers for the reader's delight those tales honored almost unanimously by anthologists and those that represent, in variety and balance, the best work of America's favorite storyteller. They are tales in his most mellow, humorous, and ironic moods. They give the full range and flavor of the man born William Sydney Porter but known throughout the world as O. Henry, one of the great masters of the short story. The Best Short Stories of O. Henry: The Gift of the Magi The Romance of a Busy Broker Transients in Arcadia A Cosmopolite in a Cafe The Ransom of Red Chief A Lickpenny Lover A Blackjack Bargainer The Voice of the City The Pimienta Pancakes The Last Leaf

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is a novel about a young boy growing up in the fictional small town of Hannibal, Missouri along the Mississippi River during the 1840s. Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother Sid. Life for Tom is a series of grand adventures that include his best friend "Huck" Finn, the love of his life Becky Thatcher, buried treasures, scoundrels, thieves and body snatchers. Manga Classics brings a brilliant new light to Mark Twain's very first novel that new readers will embrace and life-long fans will enjoy.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is a novel about a young boy growing up in the fictional small town of Hannibal, Missouri along the Mississippi River during the 1840s. Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother Sid. Life for Tom is a series of grand adventures that include his best friend "Huck" Finn, the love of his life Becky Thatcher, buried treasures, scoundrels, thieves and body snatchers. Manga Classics brings a brilliant new light to Mark Twain's very first novel that new readers will embrace and life-long fans will enjoy.