Mark Twain's San Francisco
Regular price
€18.50
Jumping frogs, high society, San Francisco’s Emperor Norton and the stray dogs that followed on his heels—nothing escaped Mark Twain’s scrutiny or his acerbic wit. Bernard Taper has gathered together a heady selection of newspaper articles, correspondence, poetry, and short stories that are humorous—sometimes exasperating and controversial—but always engaging. Edward Jump, a contemporary of Twain’s, offers through his lively illustrations a visual drum roll to Twain’s cantankerous prose. From earthquakes, scandals, and tantalizing bonanzas to elegant ladies blowing their noses in “exquisitely modulated tones,” Mark Twain has left us a vision of San Francisco that is at once fascinating and hilariously familiar.
Bernard Taper (1918-2016) was the author of several books, including the acclaimed Balanchine: A Biography and Cellist in Exile: A Portrait of Pablo Casals. Following a stint as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, he worked for many years as a staff writer for the New Yorker. He was also a professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.