Life on the Mississippi

<p><strong>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, <em>Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</em>.</strong><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&mdash;Mark Twain&mdash;from a term boatmen would call out signifying water depth at two fathoms, meaning safe clearance for travel. It was from this background that <em>Life on the Mississippi</em> emerged.&Acirc;&nbsp;It is an epochal record of America's growth, a stirring remembrance of her vanished past. And it earned for its author his first recognition as a serious writer.</p> <p><strong>With an Introduction by Justin Kaplan</strong><br /><strong>and an Afterword by John Seelye</strong></p>