One of the greatest American authors, Mark Twain holds a special position not only as a distinctly American cultural icon but also as a preeminent portrayer of youth. His famous writings about children and youthful themes are central to both his work and his popularity. The distinguished contributors to Mark Twain and Youth make Twain even more accessible to modern readers by fully exploring youth themes in both his life and his extensive writings. The volume's twenty-six original essays offer new perspectives on such important subjects as Twain's boyhood; his relationships with his siblings and his own children; his attitudes toward aging, gender roles, and slavery; the marketing, reception, teaching, and adaptation of his works; and youth themes in his individual novels--Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Pudd'nhead Wilson, and Joan of Arc. The book also includes a revealing foreword by actor Hal Holbrook, who has performed longer as "Mark Twain" than Samuel Clemens himself did. The book includes contributions by: Lawrence Berkove, John Bird, Jocelyn A. Chadwick, Joseph Csicsila, Hugh H. Davis, Mark Dawidziak, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, James Golden, Alan Gribben, Benjamin Griffin, Ronald Jenn, Holger Kersten, Andrew Levy, Cindy Lovell, Karen Lystra, Debra Ann MacComb, Peter Messent, Linda A. Morris, K. Patrick Ober, John R. Pascal, Lucy E. Rollin, Barbara Schmidt, David E. E. Sloane, Henry Sweets, Wendelinus Wurth.

A voracious pack-rat, Mark Twain hoarded his readers' letters as did few of his contemporaries. Dear Mark Twain collects 200 of these letters written by a diverse cross-section of correspondents from around the world - children, farmers, schoolteachers, businessmen, preachers, railroad clerks, inmates of mental institutions, con artists, and even a former president. It is a unique and groundbreaking book - the first published collection of reader letters to any writer of Mark Twain's time. Its contents afford a rare and exhilarating glimpse into the sensibilities of nineteenth-century people while revealing the impact Samuel L. Clemens had on his readers. Clemens' own and often startling comments and replies are also included. R. Kent Rasmussen's extensive research provides fascinating profiles of the correspondents, whose personal stories are often as interesting as their letters. Ranging from gushing fan appreciations and requests for help and advice to suggestions for writing projects and stinging criticisms, the letters are filled with perceptive insights, pathos, and unintentional but often riotous humor. Many are deeply moving, more than a few are hilarious, some may be shocking, but none are dull.

Nineteenth-century America and the world of Samuel L. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, come to life as children journey back in time with this history- and literature-laden activity book. The comprehensive biographical information explores Mark Twain as a multi-talented man of his times, from his childhood in the rough-and-tumble West of Missouri to his many careers--steamboat pilot, printer, miner, inventor, world traveler, businessman, lecturer, newspaper reporter, and most important, author--and how these experiences influenced his writing. Twain-inspired activities include making printer's type, building a model paddlewheel boat, unmasking a hoax, inventing new words, cooking cornpone, planning a newspaper, observing people, and writing maxims. An extensive resource section offers information on Twain's classics, such as "Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," as well as a listing of recommended web sites to explore.

"Africa for the Africans" was the name given to the extraordinary movement led by Jamaican Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887-1940). Volumes I-VII of the "Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers "chronicled the Garvey movement that flourished in the United States during the 1920s. Now, the long-awaited African volumes of this edition demonstrate clearly the central role Africans played in the development of the Garvey phenomenon.
The African volumes provide the first authoritative account of how Africans transformed Garveyism into an African social movement. The most extensive collection of documents ever gathered on the early African nationalism of the interwar period, Volume X provides a detailed chronicle of the spread of Garvey's call for African redemption throughout Africa.

One of the greatest American authors, Mark Twain holds a special position not only as a distinctly American cultural icon but also as a preeminent portrayer of youth. His famous writings about children and youthful themes are central to both his work and his popularity. The distinguished contributors to Mark Twain and Youth make Twain even more accessible to modern readers by fully exploring youth themes in both his life and his extensive writings. The volume's twenty-six original essays offer new perspectives on such important subjects as Twain's boyhood; his relationships with his siblings and his own children; his attitudes toward aging, gender roles, and slavery; the marketing, reception, teaching, and adaptation of his works; and youth themes in his individual novels--Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Pudd'nhead Wilson, and Joan of Arc. The book also includes a revealing foreword by actor Hal Holbrook, who has performed longer as "Mark Twain" than Samuel Clemens himself did. The book includes contributions by: Lawrence Berkove, John Bird, Jocelyn A. Chadwick, Joseph Csicsila, Hugh H. Davis, Mark Dawidziak, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, James Golden, Alan Gribben, Benjamin Griffin, Ronald Jenn, Holger Kersten, Andrew Levy, Cindy Lovell, Karen Lystra, Debra Ann MacComb, Peter Messent, Linda A. Morris, K. Patrick Ober, John R. Pascal, Lucy E. Rollin, Barbara Schmidt, David E. E. Sloane, Henry Sweets, Wendelinus Wurth.

This first installment of the new multi-volume Mark Twain's Literary Resources: A Reconstruction of His Library and Reading recounts Dr. Alan Gribben's fascinating 45-year search for surviving volumes from the large library assembled by Twain and his family. That collection of more than 3,000 titles was dispersed through impromptu donations and abrupt public auctions, but over the years nearly a thousand volumes have been recovered. Gribben's research also encompasses many hundreds of other books, stories, essays, poems, songs, plays, operas, newspapers, and magazines with which Mark Twain was demonstrably familiar. Gribben published the original edition of Mark Twain's Library in 1980. Hailed by the eminent Twain scholar Louis J. Budd as "a superb job that will last for generations," the work nevertheless soon went out of print and for three decades has been a hard-to-find item on the rare book market. Meanwhile, over a distinguished career of writing, teaching, and research on Twain, Gribben continued to annotate, revise, and expand the content such that it has become his life's masterwork. Thoroughly revised, enlarged, and retitled, Mark Twain's Literary Resources: A Reconstruction of His Library and Reading now reappears, to greatly expand our comprehension of the incomparable author's reading tastes and influences. Volume I traces Twain's extensive use of public libraries. It identifies Twain's favorite works, but also reveals his strong dislikes-Chapter 10 is devoted to his "Library of Literary Hogwash," specimens of atrocious poetry and prose that he delighted in ridiculing. In describing Twain's habit of annotating his library books, Gribben reveals his methods of detecting forged autographs and marginal notes that have fooled booksellers, collectors, and libraries. The volume's 25 chapters trace from various perspectives the patterns of Twain's voracious reading and relate what he read to his own literary outpouring. A "Critical Bibliography" evaluates the numerous scholarly books and articles that have studied Twain's reading, and an index guides readers to the volume's diverse subjects. Twain enjoyed cultivating a public image as a largely unread natural talent; on occasion he even denied being acquainted with titles that he had owned, inscribed, and annotated in his own personal library. He convinced many friends and interviewers that he had no appetite for fiction, poetry, drama, or belles-lettres, yet Gribben reveals volumes of evidence to the contrary. He examines this unlettered pose that Twain affected and speculates about the reasons behind it. In reality, whether Twain was memorizing the classic writings of ancient Rome or the more contemporary works of Milton, Byron, Shelley, Dickens, and Tennyson-or, for that matter, quoting from the best-selling fiction and poetry of his day-he exhibited a lifelong hunger to overcome the brevity of his formal education. Several of Gribben's chapters explore the connections between Twain's knowledge of authors such as Malory, Shakespeare, Poe, and Browning, and his own literary works, group readings, and family activities. Volumes II and III of Mark Twain's Literary Resources: A Reconstruction of His Library and Reading will be released in 2019 and will deliver an "Annotated Catalog" arranged from A to Z, documenting in detail the staggering scope of Twain's reading. - book is one-of-a-kind, a monumental project, representing 45 years of research - scholarship of the book is impeccable, by writer internationally known in the Twain community - publisher has a much-publicized association with Alan Gribben; in 2011 we released the highly controversial NewSouth Edition of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, edited by Dr. Gribben - Twain is among our more popular 19th-century American writers, and works about him are often of literary interest

The creator of two of the most iconic characters in all of literature, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain has long been regarded as the quintessential American writer. Bloom's ""How to Write about Mark Twain"" offers valuable paper-topic suggestions, clearly outlined strategies on how to write a strong essay, and an insightful introduction by Harold Bloom on writing about Twain. This new volume is designed to help students develop their analytical writing skills and critical comprehension of this important author and his works.

Here are more than 1,800 quotations, organized from A-to-Z, from America's consummate author--Mark Twain. A must-have for all Twain collectors, "The Quotable Mark Twain" is filled with his opinions about the people he knew, the places he's been, and the books he wrote, as well as more far-ranging topics, such as writers, billiards, smoking, his family, and more. The book also includes 150 illustrations taken from the original editions of Twain's publications, source citations for each quotation, an annotated bibliography, and a complete index.

Masterplots II: Short Story Series provides penetrating discussions of the content, themes, structure and techniques of 1,490 stories from every inhabited region in the world: North America, Africa, Asia, West Indies, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and other European countries. Each article begins with birth and death dates, type and time of the plot, locale, principal characters and first-publication information. A synopsis of the story, critical discussion and analysis of the stylistic devices is also included.

Mark Twain is without question one of America's favorite authors, but few people fully appreciate that within this beloved writer's memorable works is the subversive philosophy that "bad" people often are happier and more successful than those who strive to be "good". Mark Twain's Book for Bad Boys and Girls is the first-ever compilation of Twain's wise and witty essays, sketches, and stories on the joys and rewards of misbehavior. With themes including "honesty is not always the best policy", "the wicked are not always punished", and "virtue is often its only reward", this delightfully mischievous book includes such incorrigible advice as: "If your mother tells you to do a thing, it is wrong to reply that you won't. It is better and more becoming to intimate that you will do as she bids you, and then afterward act quietly in the manner according to the dictates of your best judgment".

Cyclopedia of Literary Places contains articles from the titles covered in Masterplots, Second Revised Edition (1996). Each article provides standard top matter on an individual literary work, followed by entries discussing important real and imaginary places that figure into the work. Emphasis is not so much on the places themselves, but on how they are used as literary devices within the overall work. The titles covered in Cyclopedia of Literary Places are selected from the 1,805 titles in Masterplots that best lend themselves to discussion of place: virtually all the novels, most of the plays, and a selection of volumes of poetry. Nonfiction titles are not included.