Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Born Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri, the sixth of seven children. At the age of four, Mark and his family moved to the small frontier town of Hannibal, Missouri on the banks of the Mississippi River. At 18, Mark headed east to New York City and Philadelphia where he worked on several different newspapers and found some success at writing articles. By 1857, he had returned home to embark on a new career as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. Mark joined a volunteer Confederate unit called the Marion Rangers, but he quit after just two weeks. In search of a new career, Mark headed west in July of 1861. In hopes of getting rich in Nevada's silver rush, Mark traveled across the open frontier from Missouri to Nevada. Along the way Mark encountered Native American tribes for the first time as well as a variety of unique characters, mishaps and disappointments. These events were talked about in his short stories and books, particularly Roughing It. In 1865, Mark's big break came with the publication of his short story, "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" in papers across the country. A year later, Mark was hired by the Sacramento Union to visit and report on the Sandwich Island. His writings were so popular that he started his first lecture tour, which made him as a successful stage performer.

During the next few years Mark completed some of his most famous works. Novels such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Life on the Mississippi captured both his Missouri memories and depictions of American life. The Prince and the Pauper talked about class relations as does A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court which, criticized oppression while looking at the invasion of technology. And, in his most famous work, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Twain talked of slavery and the failures of Reconstruction and the continued poor treatment of African-Americans.

From 1891 until 1900, Mark and his family traveled throughout the world. During those years, Mark witnessed the increasing exploitation of weak governments by European powers, which he described in his book, Following the Equator .The Boer War in South Africa and the Boxer Rebellion in China made him angrier towards imperialistic countries. With the Spanish-American and Philippine War in 1898, Mark's stories were redirected toward the American government. Mark later declared