Bewilderment often follows when one learns that Mark Twain's best
friend of forty years was a minister. That Joseph Hopkins Twichell
(1838-1918) was also a New Englander with Puritan roots only
entrenches the "odd couple" image of Twain and Twichell. This
biography adds new dimensions to our understanding of the
Twichell-Twain relationship; more important, it takes Twichell on
his own terms, revealing an elite Everyman--a genial, energetic
advocate of social justice in an era of stark contrasts between
America's "haves and have-nots."
After Twichell's education at Yale and his Civil War service as
a Union chaplain, he took on his first (and only) pastorate at
Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut, then
the nation's most affluent city. Steve Courtney tells how Twichell
shaped his prosperous congregation into a major force for social
change in a Gilded Age metropolis, giving aid to the poor and to
struggling immigrant laborers as well as supporting overseas
missions and cultural exchanges. It was also during his time at
Asylum Hill that Twichell would meet Twain, assist at Twain's
wedding, and preside over a number of the family's weddings and
funerals.
Courtney shows how Twichell's personality, abolitionist
background, theological training, and war experience shaped his
friendship with Twain, as well as his ministerial career; his life
with his wife, Harmony, and their nine children; and his
involvement in such pursuits as Nook Farm, the lively community
whose members included Harriet Beecher Stowe and Charles Dudley
Warner. This was a life emblematic of a broad and eventful period
of American change. Readers will gain a clear appreciation of why
the witty, profane, and skeptical Twain cherished Twichell's
companionship.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
