Jay

December 17, 2021

I finally finished it. After a full month of reading this very, very thorough, in-depth, academically written biography of one of America's first rockstars, Mr. Mark Twain.Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Twain's real name) was a Civil War fugitive, failed silver miner, journalist, lecturer, author, entert

Christine

January 03, 2016

Wow, this is a huge book and it took me two months to finish! So right off the bat, if you're not into biographies, put this book back on the shelf and check out something else. Secondly, if you're not into Twain or have never read one of his books, or you're not into the writing process and publish

Steve

November 16, 2020

https://thebestbiographies.com/2020/1...“Mark Twain: A Life” was published in 2005 and is one of a dozen books authored by Ron Powers – not including four he co-authored as well as a biography of Jim Henson he wrote which remains unpublished due to objections from the deceased puppeteer’s family. Po

Sherry

October 04, 2017

Mark Twain has long been my favorite American literary personality, and this excellent, often witty and wry, biography delineates why. We learn in this biography about Clemens’ boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri; his introduction to the written word in a printing shop, and his lifelong obsession w/ types

Doug

February 20, 2009

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

Steven

April 30, 2010

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 h

Belinda

August 09, 2022

4,5 stars - English Ebook Loved this book, after visiting his boyhood home in Hannibal, Missouri. Twain was a complicated man, with some negative characteristics that dwarf his positives. Those who don't like this biography are probably folks who idealize Clemens based on his literature. His relatio

Nina

November 14, 2008

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 wron

John

March 31, 2008

Another of those extraordinary biographies that gifted writers have given us lately, one that focuses on personality, affect and responses to the subject's world. A more insightful (and engaging) biography of Mark Twain is hard to imagine. Either Powers adopted Train's sense of humor or he wrote of

Rick

March 03, 2018

This was the most comprehensive book about Mark Twain's life that I could find. And it is a rather complex book to read by my standards. It's quite thick and filled with long involved sentences. Ron Powers is quite the writer and Mark Twain is a complicated subject to write about.

Michael

August 22, 2016

I knew Mark Twain was always hustling for money, and I knew he was more than a little bit bitter and angry toward the end of his life, but until I read Powers' biography, I had no idea how deep Twain's (largely self-imposed) financial woes went, and how incredibly bitter and angry he became.

Mike

July 12, 2017

Heavy as a full loaded barge and as slow as one navigating down the Mississippi River that Samuel Clemens so famously wrote about, Ron Powers' Mark Twain is just that. Heavy and a slow read. However, much like the valuable resources barges tote, Powers' lengthy biography of a man who helped Ulysses

Alex

November 17, 2019

Fantastic bio/research on the Best of Best of Mark Twain's influences, life stories, and his transition from news journalist to creative storyteller, business man, and international icon making him the ultimate American Writer. Created two of the all time best fiction characters (Tom Sawyer/Hucklebe