The books in this section are usually hardcover and in decent condition, though we'll sometimes offer hard-to-find books in lesser condition at a reduced price. Though we often put images of the book with their original dust jackets, the copies here won't always (or even often) have them. If that is important to you, please call ahead or say so in the order comments!
From the dust jacket:
FOR A QUARTER OF A CENTURY Mark Twain enthusiasts have profited from and enjoyed Edward Wagenknecht's important and readable volume, which has enabled them to understand not only the nature of Mark Twain's work but also the nature of the man himself. Long out of print, it has been completely rewritten and is now republished by the University of Oklahoma Press.
To this new edition, which is essentially a new book, Mr. Wagenknecht has brought added maturity in point of view as well as added knowledge of Mark Twain and his works. Some of his original opinions have been modified; others have been strengthened. His always keen insight has been honed razor-sharp through the years and his own literary style refined, so that Mark Twain: The Man and His Work is a delight for its own sake as well as for the clear vision it brings us of America's foremost humorist.
Mr. Wagenknecht has read all the historical and critical studies of Mark Twain made since 1935 and has incorporated their essence, so that his book presents as adequate a summary of the state of Mark Twain knowledge today [1961] as it did in 1935. Readers already familiar with the original volume will welcome this new version, new readers will find it an exciting experience, and all will be tempted immediately to re-read Mark Twain.
After twenty-five years, Mark Twain: The Man and His Work still cannot be better characterized than when Bernard De Voto, in a review in The New York Times Book Review in 1935, called it "Mr. Wagenknecht's sane, sound, and tolerant book, which expresses what is probably the wisest opinion of intelligent and qualified critics."
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