Mississippi steamboat captain Samuel Clemens was twenty five when he decided the raging Civil War made his occupation too hazardous and decided to head west. For the next six years he wandered around Utah and Nevada, dabbled in silver mining, and specialized in drinking until his frequent letters-to-the-editor at the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise led to a him being offered a job as a writer. Rechristening himself W. Epaminondas Adrastus Perkins and then, more famously, Mark Twain, he would go on to become America's most distinctive and outrageous literary and public figures. Roy Morris Jr. writes with great gusto about Twain's peripatetic early years, including his move to San Francisco and publication of his beloved "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," and his travels in Hawaii that became the source material for a touring lecture that would make him a national celebrity.
- Genre: Literary Criticism, History, Biography + Autobiography, Travel
- Subgenre: Historical, United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877), United States / West / General, Literary, American / General
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster
- Pages: 282
- Edition: Reprint
- Language: English
- Format: paperback
- Release Date: March 15, 2011
- Date Published: March 15, 2011
- Author: Roy Morris