Mark Twain

PRE-ORDER FOR MAY 13, 2025

Mark Twain – A Definitive Biography by Pulitzer Prize Winner Ron Chernow

📘 From acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow, Mark Twain is a sweeping, deeply researched portrait of America’s most iconic literary voice, revealing the man behind the pen name in all his brilliance, contradictions, and cultural significance.

The Life Behind the Legend

Long before he became Mark Twain, he was Samuel Langhorne Clemens—a steamboat pilot turned journalist who would go on to become the first true celebrity of American literature. In this landmark biography, Chernow traces Twain’s journey from his humble Missouri roots to the global fame earned by works like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

A Man of Wit, Complexity, and Cultural Impact

Through meticulous research and access to thousands of personal letters and unpublished manuscripts, Chernow explores:
🔹 Twain’s rise as a satirist, political commentator, and public figure
🔹 His bold confrontation of America’s legacy of slavery and racial inequality
🔹 The personal tragedies and financial downfalls that shaped his later years
🔹 His eccentricities, business failures, and passionate social critiques

An Epic American Life Told by a Master Biographer

As much a story of Mark Twain as it is of America’s cultural and historical transformation, this biography captures the essence of a writer who reflected—and challenged—his times.