Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion to Mark Twain

He has been called "The Lincoln of Our Literature," and not less a literary authority than Ernest Hemingway cited "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" as the source from which all American literature springs. Now, the great Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), better known as Mark Twain, is the subject of a new volume in "Continuum's" acclaimed "Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair" series. Written for general readers and students as well as scholars, with a view to presenting the known and, especially, the unknown Twain, "The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Mark Twain" covers all of the works as well as the rambling and often wildly psyche and contradictory life. This book puts the reader right on the Mississippi River with Twain and all his unforgettable characters - Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Becky Thatcher, Pudd'nhead Wilson and many others. Framed by two appearances of Hailey's Comet, Twain's life takes on a new mythic dimension through these pages: humorist and misanthrope, self-made author and non-believer in "uneducated" Shakespeare as the author of his plays, inventor and journalist, provincial American and worldly sophisticate, Twain comes alive as perhaps never before in these pages. It is the perfect gift to satisfy the millions of Twainiacs who return to the master's novels and stories again and again, every year. "The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companions" are concise, witty, and often unexpected takes on the great authors and other figures who are seemingly all around us, like the air we breathe. Perfect for reading or browsing, for the general reader, for the beginning as well as the advanced student, the "Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companions" include plot summaries (no giveaways for the mystery writers!), biographical information, puzzles, posters, film stills, maps, web sites, international clubs and societies, and more. Stylish, lavishly illustrated, and imaginatively structured, the "Bedside Companions" currently include volumes on Agatha Christie (more than 400,000 copies sold in two editions), Sherlock Holmes, and Shakespeare. "Continuum's Bedside Companions" are written by journalists, novelists, and academic authorities (who wear their learning lightly) representing a true "hands-across-the-ocean" approach to their subject with titles including: "Frankenstein", "Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury", "Dickens", "Oscar Wilde", "Dracula", and "Jane Austen". Some of the volumes will include forewords by renowned figures associated with the respective subjects.

Pam McAllister is the editor of Reweaving the Web of Life: Feminism and Nonviolence ("One of the most important books you'll ever read." - Village Voice) and author of two books documenting the range of women's global resistance to oppression and creative use of nonviolent action: You Can't Kill the Spirit and This River of Courage. A resident of New York City, McAllister has been a featured speaker in North America and Europe.