Life on the Mississippi (Signet Classics)

Life on the Mississippi (Signet Classics)

<b>At once a romantic history of a mighty river, an autobiographical account of Twain's early steamboat days, and a storehouse of humorous anecdotes and sketches, here is the raw material from which Mark Twain wrote his finest novel, <i>Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</i>.</b><br><br>Hannibal, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi River, was host to riverboat travelers from around the world, providing a vigorous and variable atmosphere for the young Samuel Clemens to absorb. Clemens became a riverboat pilot and even chose his pen name—Mark Twain—from a term boatmen would call out signifying water depth at two fathoms, meaning safe clearance for travel. It was from this background that <i>Life on the Mississippi</i> emerged. It is an epochal record of America’s growth, a stirring remembrance of her vanished past. And it earned for its author his first recognition as a serious writer. <br><br><b>With an Introduction by Justin Kaplan</b><br><b>and an Afterword by John Seelye</b>