Mark Twain: The Short Stories

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835 and is far better known by his pen name, Mark Twain. An American author and humorist of the first order, he is perhaps most famous for his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, written in 1876, and its sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written in 1885 and often described with that mythic moniker "the Great American Novel." Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the backdrop for these great novels.

Apprenticed to a printer, he eventually became a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. Later, heading west with his brother Orion to make his fortune, he failed at gold mining and instead turned to journalism and found his true calling as a writer of humorous stories. This volume celebrates some of these shorter stories. His wit and humor sparkle from every page, his craft evident with every phase and punctured target.