Mark Twain (book)

{{Short description|2025 book by Ron Chernow}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox book |name=Mark Twain |image=Mark Twain by Ron Chernow.jpg |author=[[Ron Chernow]] |language=English |pub_date=May 13, 2025 |pages=1200 |publisher=[[Penguin Press]] |subject=[[Mark Twain]] |isbn=978-0-525-56172-9}} '''''Mark Twain''''' (2025) is a non-fiction biography by Pulitzer Prize-winning author [[Ron Chernow]], published on May 13, 2025, by [[Penguin Press]]. The book chronicles the life of [[Samuel Langhorne Clemens]], better known by his pen name [[Mark Twain]] and praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced,"<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 22, 1910 |title=Mark Twain is Dead at 74; End Comes Peacefully at His New England Home After a Long Illness. |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1910/04/22/archives/mark-twain-is-dead-at-74-end-comes-peacefully-at-his-new-england.html |access-date=August 28, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828215541/https://www.nytimes.com/1910/04/22/archives/mark-twain-is-dead-at-74-end-comes-peacefully-at-his-new-england.html |url-status=live }}</ref> with [[William Faulkner]] calling him "the father of [[American literature]]".<ref name="faulkner">{{cite book |last=Jelliffe |first=Robert A. |title=Faulkner at Nagano |year=1956 |publisher=Kenkyusha, Ltd |location=Tokyo}}</ref> Tracing Twain's journey from his Missouri childhood and early career as a steamboat pilot to his rise as a celebrated journalist, satirist, and author of classics such as ''[[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer]]'' and ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'', Chernow explores Twain's complex persona, political commentary, and engagement with issues like slavery amid America's 19th-century transformation. Drawing on archival materials, the biography examines Twain's pursuit of fame, financial struggles, personal tragedies, and enduring literary legacy.

As of May 2026, ''Mark Twain'' had sold 119,259 copies in hardcover.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Paul |first1=Pamela |last2=Trachtenberg |first2=Jeffrey A. |title=Dad Books Are a Dying Breed |url=https://www.wsj.com/business/media/dad-books-are-a-dying-breed-d9a28b49?mod=media_news_article_pos2 |access-date=25 May 2026 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=18 May 2026}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} {{Ron Chernow}} {{Mark Twain}}

[[Category:Works about Mark Twain]] [[Category:English-language non-fiction books]] [[Category:Penguin Press books]] [[Category:2025 non-fiction books]] [[Category:Biographies about writers]]