since I'm from Gujrati medium student.
during my college days, My English was not good, I was a frequent visitor of the library since childhood in high school have started reading to improve my Language skill then have heard about Mark twain and read a small piece from him. i fell in love with his writing and keep reading him since 2003 after 2 decades of reading his writing thinking of reading about himself so I found this book from Dostihouse Your American Space At the Consulate General of USA, Mumbai I got this book by Ron powers & learn new aspects about his life and career and his writing inspirations
I know Mark twain as witty. but this book explains some more aspects of his life

Another of those extraordinary biographies that gifted writers have given us lately, one that focuses on personality, affect and responses to the subject's world. A more insightful (and engaging) biography of Mark Twain is hard to imagine. Either Powers adopted Train's sense of humor or he wrote of Twain because he responded to a personality like his own. In either case, Powers gives us more that a goodly share of laughing matter. Again one of those books that I only allow myself to read slowly, no more than 50 pages a day.

Got to page 50. I like reading the history but it was a bit much. 627 pages and I barely remember Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn - I don't remember for sure which one I read in high school; I remember loving it which is why I bought this book years ago. I enjoyed doing a play of Twain's but what little else I've read was either angry or a lot of words for little accomplished. His quotes suit me fine.

There was a good discussion on if he was racist. I agree he was probably a good man for his time.

August, 2016.

I did not finish this book so here is my impression. One striking thing about Mark Twain is the way events in his life made an indelible impression. It something like when a child sees a rather ordinary event as an extraordinary event while an adult will view the same event as commonplace. The child will always remember the event while the adult may forget it. Twain had the gift of remembering in detail the events of his life. He recreated these impressions into print and turned into a prolific writer.

At times riveting, like when the author chronicles the writing of Huck Finn and his other texts, or when providing an overview of the newspaper and magazine industries in the Gilded Age. Often, though, it dwells too long on Clemens's financial troubles, his half-baked get-rich-quick investments, or on other esoterica like the political scene in pre-statehood Nevada.

The overwhelming impression the book leaves about Twain the author is that, despite writing classics like "The Innocents Abroad," "Tom Sawyer" and "Huck Finn," he also released a number of duds, many of which he wrote by hurriedly cobbling together previously-written newspaper and magazine pieces with the attention of paying off his many debts.

Still, much of the time this is a very compelling portrait of one of the country's first truly original voices and, undoubtedly, its first celebrity.

Very detailed book of the time period as well as Samuel Clemens' life. Great read.

It could be argued that Samuel Clemens's life is more representative of "19th century America" than the characters in his stories. He flirted with fighting for the south in the Civil War but had enough sense to head for California and Nevada instead. Everyone knows he was a successful writer, but he was also an unsuccessful entrepreneur, losing most of his fortune in failed business schemes. First as a journalist and then as a public speaker and humorist he developed views on religion, politics, mores, society, empire, etc. etc. Like a 19th century John Stewart. This book does a good job of laying it all out. 21st century America has evolved from its past. This is well worth reading.

Excellent. Good story-telling chops with the appropriate amount of Twain quotations. So much I did not know about Twain or how his life unfolded. My main take-away from the book is that Twain could be very charming but probably not a very nice person to many who knew him.

This biography didn't really work for me. While Powers clearly has a great sense of who Twain was accompanied by an exhaustive knowledge of his life, this book suffers from a deadly combination of attributes: the book is too short and the writing is overwrought.

Mark Twain's life was so rich and complicated eleven hours of listening time feels really light. This is not helped by Powers' tendency towards ten-cent words and moralistic thematic overreach.

Here's a quick example of what I'm talking about. Referring a group of civil war generals, including Sheridan and Sherman, that Twain addresses, he uses the term "military demagogues." They were not demagogues to a man, and a term like "officer" would have been just fine. Multiply this bad habit by eleven hours and a hundred years of Twain's life and a mild annoyance can be elevated into a major irritation.

But, aside from this and the persistent need to square the known-atheist Twain with the spiritual realm, this book is serviceable. However, if I could go back in town, I would take a shot at another text rather than choose this one again.

Great book, I didn't realize how cantankerous old Mr. Twain was. He was typical of many funny people, he loved to play jokes on others, but didn't care for them played himself. And he could be vicious or rude sometimes, especially to those closest to him like his brother Orion.Also learned how a miserable businessman he was, with so many failed ventures. It's unfortunate he didn't stick to writing only because we might have more of his works to read today if he had. Still,a great genius and always a pleasure to read.

The one thing I got out of this bio is I need to read more Twain. I was struck by the opening and thought it quite clever.

This is a truly magnificent biography. I give it four rather than five stars only because there were so many bits of trivia about other people who merely crossed Twain's path that they occasionally bogged down an otherwise fascinating and well-executed biography of this man and his myth. Powers is a gifted and eloquent writer and his prose flows beautifully.

For those who have not read all Twain's works or have dim memories of grade-school readings the author does a marvelous job of contextualizing characters, plot, and places so the reader is not lost amid the many references and stories about Twain's enormous body of work.

I had no idea that he was a man of such volatility and guilts nor that he was a terrible speculator who risked financial ruin repeatedly. His moral progression from a southern son of slave-holding parents to a hectoring anti-imperialist is detailed here with clear eyes and without fawning praise. Clemens was cranky and cantankerous while funny, acerbic and tempestuous. Powers is meticulous in uncovering and demonstrating Twain's uncanny ear for dialect and meaning as well as his struggles with toning down his love for slang, swearing and drinking hard.

The sheer energy Twain deployed with his travels and writing of tens of thousand of words (by pen and paper of course) are preternatural. His adoration of his wife who could alone tame him was endearing. His many losses of brothers and children tragic. A steadfast and loyal friend he was quick to merciless revenge on those who he believed betrayed him and he was notoriously thin-skinned while happy to poke others. He was a humorist who was frequently very angry. He was a humorist who shattered literary conventions with seriousness of purpose.

He had wished to be a clergyman but he wasn't sure about God and was less sure about any religion. "If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be--a Christian." He was indifferent to the boundary between fact and fiction and his recollections and his stories were entwined messily.

Nuggets:

He slipped bats and snakes into his mother's sewing basket and she told him tales of brutal and sadistic Indian attacks on her mother's people.

He castigated the Bible as "blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies."

"Next I am privileged to infer that is far more goodness than ungoodness in man, for if it were not so man would have exterminated himself before this...I detest Man, but nevertheless this is true of him."

"There are many humorous,things in the world; among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than other savages."

"Wrinkles should merely show where the smiles have been."

Written by his friend, editor, confidant and fellow writer William Howells about Twain, "...the paradoxical charm of Mr. Clemens's best humor. It's wildest extravagance [springs from ] a deep feeling, a wrath with some folly which disquiets him worse than other men, a personal hatred for some humbug or pretension that embitters him beyond anything but laughter...At the bottom of his heart he has often the grimness of a reformer; his wit is turned...upon things that are out of joint, that are unfair or ...ignoble and cry out to his love of justice or discipline."