The inventions of Mark Twain

the long version

Young Sam Clemens reinvented himself to become Mark Twain -- writer, family man, lecturer, speculator, publisher, world traveler, and perhaps the most widely recognized public figure of his time. For Mark Twain, to write was to live fully with all his energies; and yet to participate in the outside world was equally vital. His business enterprises reflected a restless search for excitement. Typical of his speculations were his disastrous financial and emotional involvement in the Paige automatic typesetter and his publication of the enormously successful Memoirs of General Grant. But the anchor of his life remained his uniquely personal mansion in Hartford. Home and family were at the core of his being, and Lauber illuminates Twain's family life, his very close relationships with his wife and daughters. - Jacket flap.