American.
Coinsidentially I finished the audio version of this autobiography the day he stopped writing: Christmas day. His daughter died Christmas Eve 1909. His wife had died a few years earlier. Another daughter died several years before that in chilhood. He had never recovered from those tragedies. His surviving daughter lived in Europe. He wrote of this in his diary & wrote no more. He was alone in a big house & died shorty after that. He knew that his autobiography would not be published until he died, long dead he hoped, so he didn't pull any punches. This editor Charles Neider was not as brave. He missed much of the insouciance that was Twain. He came out with a long linear, biography. Twain dictated a lot of it in his later years but just talked about whatever came into his head. Editing this disorganization admittedly was no mean feat. Mark Twain was not a disiplined writer. He could set down a novel he was writing & not return to it for several years. So it was with Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn. They were, by the way, populated with real people he knew in his youth. A gonzo writer of sorts, he wrote what he knew & had lived. He was one of the most travelled Americans of his time, spending long periods in Europe. He was a printer, a journalist, a riverboat pilot, lecturer & of course, novelist. He was a celebrity in his own time but a very poor investor & money manager. He had to go back to lecturing to recoup his loses. He hated that. It was too much like work & he admitted to being very lazy. He was very quotable & whole books have been devoted to his musings. Many of these concerned his atheism, his distaste for organized religion & he ridiculed the bibical god. These particular items were not to be seen in Neider's version which was the biggest disappointment.

It is one of the more interesting autobiographys that I have read. The author Charles Neider has taken a confusing pile of writings and has assembled them into a more streamline reading and a timeline of Samuel Clemen's (Mark Twain's) life.

This book has given me a yearning to read more books by Neider on Mark Twain and reread some of Twain's classic's like Huckberry Finn.

Buy this book, kick back in your easy chair and be prepared to take a journey with the Master of American Literature himself as he lies near death. From the Mighty Mississippi to the latter days of the Gold Rush; to the lecture (lyceum) circuit of his thirties-forties; and on to a family life of tragedy after tragedy and finally triumph, Mr. Twain will take you, the reader, into his mind where you'll share his wit, wisdom, and secrets. A must buy for any Twain lover or anyone interested in the 19th Century from a man who lived it. Lived it indeed!

One of my favorite five books in the last five years, and I read a lot of books! I'm going to try to be brief, which will be a challenge, because I loved it.

First, the concept behind this book is pure genius, especially for an autobiography. Because he didn't release his life story until he died, Twain was able to be completely honest. It's true- everyone on earth must restrain their tongue somewhat. But when we read about a great person from the past, we want to know the real deal.

I won't go too much into how great Mark Twain was. I'm sure that subject has been covered quite well. But as a public speaker, writer, and fledgling humorist myself, I found many of the vignettes priceless. He tells us what the 'Lycium',the 19th American speaking circuit, was like, how one good writer failed miserably in front of an audience, how he (Twain) turned an old tired joke into a new exciting one... and on the subject of fame, he talks about how inconsequential was a particular woman who had become famous simply for having opinions (and because she happened to be the wife of a newspaper man). Indeed, except for Twain's ridicule, this woman has been utterly and appropriately neglected by history. We are thereby warned of the worthlessness of fame without substance or purpose.

At times Twain sounds pompuous or narcissistic, but it fits his humorous style. We forgive him because we know he was great and because condescension is a great position from which to heap ridicule and satire. And you have to wonder- don't some great men know they're great even while they live?

Twain had the fortune to be celebrated within his lifetime, and remains one of the most important Americans. He is the deep root from which modern humorists such as Garrison Keillor and Dave Barry spring forth. He is an example of the gruff and almost crotchety American intellect.

His story also demonstrates how not to run your writing business (by letting suspicious character run it for you and steal your money).

And he provides touching accounts of both his awkward courtship, and the exceptional character and intelligence of one of his daughters.

What else? They say in public speaking: Begin with a laugh, end with a tear. Twain's autobiography does the latter - it's sad to see how quickly he went from the apex of life to lonely grief as most of his family died within little more than a year.

Before we know it, before we want it, the book is over, and the great life is done. We are reminded of the temporary nature of life, and as this famous and delightful personality recedes again from our consciousness, perhaos at least for a little while, because of his example, we seize life with more vigor.

Firstly, the bad news: this is not the complete autobiography, but only a selection. Twain's entire manuscript for the autobiography seems to be about 400,000 to 500,000 words, so an editor must pick and choose to compile a single-volume edition. Neider has arranged his selections in roughly chronological order. One can only hope someone will undertake the monumental task of compiling the complete autobiography, in the order Twain desired it, soon.

Secondly, more bad news: in the Introduction, Neider takes snide swipes at previous editors. He also makes a hubristic statement about excluding some material because, "I do not believe that it would do justice to Mark Twain's literary reputation to publish these sections."

Finally, the good news: once you get past Neider's rant of an introduction, you get Twain himself. This book is very satisfying because, as you read, you feel as though you are becoming acquainted with the man, Samuel Clemens. By so doing, you also share some of his insight into human nature. Twain says, "I have found that there is no ingredient of the human race that I do not possess in either a small way or large way....As a result, my private and concealed opinion of myself is not of a complimentary sort. It follows that my estimate of the human race is the duplicate of my estimate of myself". The value of this book is that, after reading it, you want to get to know Twain even better. Now, if only the same could be said of more particular examples of the human race.