Mark Twain
  • Published: 19 August 2025
  • ISBN: 9780241777343
  • Imprint: Allen Lane
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 1200
  • RRP: $95.00
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Mark Twain

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Hardback
19 Aug 2025
EBook
13 May 2025
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The complex and fascinating life of \"the Father of American Literature\" (William Faulkner), as told by a Pulitzer prizewinning biographer

Born in 1835, the man who would become America’s first, and most influen­tial, literary celebrity spent his childhood dreaming of piloting steamboats on the Mississippi. But when the Civil War interrupted his career on the river, the young Mark Twain went west and accepted a job at the local newspaper, writing dis­patches that attracted attention for their brashness and humour. It wasn’t long until the former steamboat pilot from Missouri was recognized across the country for his literary brilliance.

In this rich and nuanced portrait of Twain, Ron Chernow brings his powers to bear on a man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune, and crafted his persona with meticulous care. After establishing himself as a jour­nalist, satirist, and performer, and a family man, Twain went on to write The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He threw himself into the epicentre of American culture, emerging as the nation’s most notable political pundit and the only white author of his generation to grapple so fully with the legacy of slavery. At the same time, his madcap business ventures eventually bankrupted him and led him and his family to nine years of exile between London, France, Germany and Italy. During this time, he lost his wife and two daughters – the last stage of his life marked by heartache, politi­cal crusades, and eccentric behaviour that sometimes obscured darker forces at play.

Drawing on Twain’s bountiful archives, includ­ing thousands of letters and hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, Chernow here captures the magnificent and often maddening life of one of the most original characters in literary history, reminding us why Twain’s writing continues to be read, debated and quoted over a hundred years after his passing.
  • Published: 19 August 2025
  • ISBN: 9780241777343
  • Imprint: Allen Lane
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 1200
  • RRP: $95.00
Categories:

Also by Ron Chernow

Washington
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Praise for Mark Twain

Bestseller Chernow again proves himself among his generation’s finest biographers with this magisterial account of the life of Mark Twain... Chernow’s razor-sharp portrait offers nuanced explorations of Twain’s many contradictions... Amply justifying the considerable page count, this stands as the new definitive biography of the revered author

Publishers' Weekly

Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Chernow, best known for his authoritative works on such political figures as Hamilton, Washington, and Grant, here examines the life of one of our most celebrated literary figures with equally remarkable results ... Chernow is an exceptional portraitist, adding depth and shadow to bring his subject fully to life. The impeccable research blends seamlessly into a narrative that examines Twain in all his guises: devoted family man, writer, publisher, entrepreneur, and inventor. Like his subject, Chernow has a keen ear for the perfect quote, insult, and witty rejoinder. This monumental achievement will stand as the definitive life of Mark Twain

Bill Kelly, Booklist

Charming, sympathetic, yet judicious ... this is a model biography, one of the finest of recent years. Chernow's gift for fluency, rivalling Twain's, unstrenuously carries you along, parading before us the many lives of Mark Twain.

Pratinav Anil, The Times

...an admirably animated, readable account of one of the modern world’s first celebrities. Somewhere deep inside it, almost hidden, glows the energy and humour of Twain’s very American prose."

John Mullan, Guardian

The complex life of Mark Twain is told expertly in Pulitzer winner Ron Chernow's comprehensive biography ... Chernow offers a balanced, insightful view of the whole Twain package.

Mark Chilton, Independent

Chernow's Mark Twain flows like the Mississippi River, its prose propelled by Mark Twain’s own exuberance.

Boston Globe
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