Product Description(Amazon.com)
He was Sam Clemens, steamboat pilot, before he was Mark Twain, famous author. His better-known name originated with the lingo of navigation, and much of his writing was informed by his shipboard adventures on one of the world's great rivers. In this classic of American literature, Twain offers lively recollections ranging from his salad days as a novice pilot to views from the passenger deck in the twilight of the river culture’s heyday.
Under the tutelage of the most celebrated pilot on the Mississippi, young Twain acquires the skills to navigate a constantly changing riverscape, avoiding potential collisions with other boats and traversing winding channels in the dead of night. The vivid and ever-engaging narrative encompasses tales of riverside town feuds, the professional vicissitudes of a riverboat gambler, dramatic accounts of life in Vicksburg as the city lay under siege during the Civil War, and many other scenes from a now-vanished way of life. These antebellum visions take on a bittersweet cast with the author's postwar return to the region, when railroad competition has largely doomed the commercial steamboat and the old ways of life are passing into history.
A testimonial to Twain's repute as the most popular humorist of his day, these reminiscences crackle with comic anecdotes and energetic witticisms. Engrossing and entertaining, this volume will captivate devotees of Twain, steamboat buffs, lovers of Americana, and students of American literature.
Series: Dover Thrift Editions
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Dover Publications; English Language edition (December 21, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0486414264
ISBN-13: 978-0486414263
MY THOUGHTS: I loved reading Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin as a child. This book also delivers wonderful stories about the mighty Mississippi and it's ever changing route. It amazes me that a river can change it's course that much. Mark Twain gives you all the description of the changes that take place along the river. The first part of the book is about Twain as a young apprentice on board a riverboat learning to be a pilot. The last half is Twain going back along that same river and telling about all the changes the river has made. Where whole towns have moved miles from the edge and some are completely gone. If you like Mark Twain and history, you will love this book. I give this book 5.....
This book is also for 2 of my reading challenges.
Birthday Month Reading Challenge
A to Z Reading Challenge
Hosted at Good Reads Wacky Reading Challenges
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