Life on the Mississippi

<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&#151;Mark Twain&#151;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.&#160;It is an epochal record of America&#146;s growth a stirring remembrance of her vanished past. And it earned for its author his first recognition as a serious writer.&#160;<br><br><b>With an Introduction by Justin Kaplan</b><br><b>and an Afterword by John Seelye</b>