{"product_id":"tom-sawyer-and-huckleberry-finn-introduction-by-miles-donald-9780679405849","title":"Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn: Introduction by Miles Donald","description":"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, led one of the most exciting of literary lives. Raised in the river town of Hannibal, Missouri, Twain had to leave school at age 12 and was successively a journeyman printer, a steamboat pilot, a halfhearted Confederate soldier, and a prospector, miner, and reporter in the western territories. His experiences furnished him with a wide knowledge of humanity, as well as with the perfect grasp of local customs and speech which manifests itself in his writing. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith the publication in 1865 of \u003ci\u003eThe Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County\u003c\/i\u003e, Twain gained national attention as a frontier humorist, and the bestselling Innocents Abroad solidified his fame. But it wasn't until \u003ci\u003eLife on the Mississippi\u003c\/i\u003e (1883), and finally, \u003ci\u003eThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn \u003c\/i\u003e(1885), that he was recognized by the literary establishment as one of the greatest writers America would ever produce. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eToward the end of his life, plagued by personal tragedy and financial failure, Twain grew more and more pessimistic--an outlook not alleviated by his natural skepticism and sarcasm. Though his fame continued to widen--Yale \u0026amp; Oxford awarded him honorary degrees--Twain spent his last years in gloom and exasperation, writing fables about \"the damned human race.\"\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Everyman's Library","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51805507584274,"sku":"9780679405849","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_733eb0d1-fa14-461f-af8a-cf4adaeef843.jpg?v=1765972547","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/tom-sawyer-and-huckleberry-finn-introduction-by-miles-donald-9780679405849","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}