The Autobiography of Mark Twain: Deluxe Modern Classic (Harper Perennial Deluxe Editions)

Mark Twain tells his own story in this autobiography, which the Modern Library selected as one of the 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Twentieth Century. Twain was a commanding figure—talented, temperamental, and unpredictable—whose fiction captured the changing America of his era through stories of heroism, adventure, tragedy, and comedy. Writing on his deathbed, he committed to being "free and frank and unembarrassed" in recounting his life and experiences. This edition, introduced by scholar Charles Neider and featuring sixteen pages of photographs, was the first to arrange Twain's autobiographical writings in chronological order. It presents a man fully matched to the expanding America of riverboats, gold rushes, and westward movement that inspired his novels. The book contains anecdotes, portraits, and personal reflections spanning from his boyhood through his travels, bachelorhood, and married life, offering insight into the background of many of his works.