An electroshocked and mocked pickpocket flocked to the retrorocket's flippity-flopped windsock...

Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Born in Missouri- November 30, 1835 and died - April 21, 1910 of a heart attack. Clemens became one of the first and one of the most prolific American writers under the name Mark Twain. Samuel Clemens is one of my all time favorite authors. I am far from close to have reading his entire cannon of material, however its is a goal of mine to read as much of it as I can while I'm here. I have read his mainstream classics, as well as a few not so mainstream, I have also read just about all of his short stories. My fascination with Mark Twain does not end there...he was born in the time of United States history that particularly interests me, and he was fairly local to where I myself have lived my life one hundred years later. Clemens was an extremely accute critical thinker and his philisophical and political opinions and ideas were very cutting edge for his time and his esteamed place in society. Later in life after gaining life experiences through world travel, Clemens could even be labeled a revolutionary. He was a supportor of the labor-movement. He was anti-imperialism, which in and of itself was an un-Amercian way of thought for a turn-of-the-century individual, with political aquaintances. He even became VP of the American Anti-Imperialism League. Clemens was a very vocal social critic, that gave lectures on his opinions. He was an abolitionist and an opponent of racism. He was for the ethical treatment of animals and himself a vegitarian. One of the most controversial aspects of Clemens criticism was how he felt about orginized religion. His opinions and writings on that subject matter was kept in the closet, so to speak, by the surviving members of his estate, these publications were not truly marketed by publishers and kept from the mainstream until the early 1960's. Those are still not the Mark Twain books you will find readliy available for purchase when shopping your average local bookshop. There is a quite sizable collection of works published posthumously.

I do share many of the same opinions that Samuel Clemens held. That is why he is one of my, if not my favorite author of the late 19th and early 20th century. I am continually impressed by his personal views on life and the cosmos and his way of inventing fictional characters that seem incredibly lifelike.

-A