Rating: 
Summary: Shaking Foundations and Prodding Sacred Cows
Review: I first read "Letters from the Earth" in 1962, when I was a highschool student in Redding, CT. Redding was the last home of Mark Twain, and those who held his literary legacy as sacred, his library as a shrine, were definitely upset and embarrased when it was published. All this made it compelling reading for an adolescent who was beginning to notice the inconsistencies, hypocrisies and downright insanities of human belief. "Letters from the Earth" shook loose the stones of my foundation: a service for which I'll be forever grateful. Including himself in his witty attack on Earthly Man's frailties, Twain's observations encouraged me to trust my own perceptions, prod sacred cows, and ultimately to forgive myself for being at best, "a nickel-plated angel". I've read, reread, and revered most of Twain's legacy, but I think of this particular book as a treasurebox full of letters from a brilliant, irascible but loving uncle each of us should have known sometime in our lives. I only wish I'd remembered to share it with my own kids when they were adolescents. I must make amends right now...AFTER I've reread it myself.
Rating:
Summary: A great book!!
Review: I recently read this book, and i thought it was very interesting. on the back cover, it says "bible-belter's will blush" which couldn't be a more true statement. Many of the thoughts published by Twain in this book actually refer more to Satanism (a.k.a LaVeyan satanism)rather than christianity. It is full of dark comedy that points out the farce called the human race, and the major faults in one of the right hand path religions-- Christianity. I think it would be particularly interesting to not only Mark Twain fans, but also those who realize the stupidity of the human race, etc.
Rating:
Summary: A great book!!
Review: I recently read this book, and i thought it was very interesting. on the back cover, it says "bible-belter's will blush" which couldn't be a more true statement. Many of the thoughts published by Twain in this book actually refer more to Satanism (a.k.a LaVeyan satanism)rather than christianity. It is full of dark comedy that points out the farce called the human race, and the major faults in one of the right hand path religions-- Christianity. I think it would be particularly interesting to not only Mark Twain fans, but also those who realize the stupidity of the human race, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: Read on...
Review: I was introduced to "Letters" in a college American Literature class in the early 70s. Until then I had struggled through the assigned readings, but from the moment I began reading "Letters from the Earth" Mark Twain became a favorite. Perhaps my favorite Twain piece is a short critical essay entitled "The Literary Transgressions of Fennimore Cooper" that may be read in one sitting, provided too much time isn't taken up laughing. Of course you'll have to find a copy and that can be difficult.
Rating:
Summary: I can't believe no one has reviewed this book.
Review: I'm a big Twain fan but I'll keep it simple. This book, a collection really, is short and sweet. If you have any interest in: sociology (particularly American), religion (particularly American), cultural commentary (particularly American), trying to explain the human condition (not particularly American) or comedy, this is a very good selection. And it will take you only a matter of hours to dip into some of Twain's funniest--and prickly--thoughts. I mean it.
Rating:
Summary: A reason to question
Review: Letters from the Earth is a compilation of Twain's work, some of which was not in finished form and was never intended to be published. At the time of writing much of this, he was experiencing significant financial and personal hardships. Much of the material in LFTE itself was Twain trying to rationalize the irrational in religion, just as he was trying to sort things out in his own life. At that, he was taking a tonque-in-cheek look at that which his audience viewed as sacred. His primary thought was to stimulate independent thought; he wrote not so much to condemn as to question. Of course, his natural inclination to laugh at the human condition comes out in force. The best short piece in the anthology is the Letter to the Earth. Bill Gates might be Abner Scofield.... Overall, this is a great collection, but I don't expect to see it on any high school's course syllabus in the near future.
Rating:
Summary: Satan's side of the story
Review: Letters from the Earth is an assortment of unpublished-for-60-years writings by Mark Twain. They cover a wide span of subject matter ranging from critiques of the prose style of another writer to the author's construction of the Old Testament and God from the perspective of Satan. In addition to Letters From Earth (Satan's), the contents includes Papers of the Adam Family, The Damned Human Race, Something About Repentance, Was the World Made For Man, In the Animal's Court, The Intelligence of God, The Lowest Animal and others. Readers who are offended by careful examinations of the meaning and implications of holy or sacred writings of the Old Testiment will not enjoy this book. The author, whatever his actual religious beliefs, probably wasn't an Old Testiment Christian. In this series of short writings he takes specific stories from the OT and holds them into the light away from the long traditions that accompany them in most of our minds. He examines the evidence of the stories for hints of what sort of creature God must be if the OT is true. He extropolates what Satan might be. I'm an admirer of this author and I believe everything he ever wrote is worth reading and digesting. I put this book alongside his best. But I also admit that if I harbored a microbe of religious fanatic somewhere inside me I'd be hard-pressed to enjoy reading Letters From the Earth.
Rating:
Summary: Satan's side of the story
Review: Letters from the Earth is an assortment of unpublished-for-60-years writings by Mark Twain. They cover a wide span of subject matter ranging from critiques of the prose style of another writer to the author's construction of the Old Testament and God from the perspective of Satan. In addition to Letters From Earth (Satan's), the contents includes Papers of the Adam Family, The Damned Human Race, Something About Repentance, Was the World Made For Man, In the Animal's Court, The Intelligence of God, The Lowest Animal and others. Readers who are offended by careful examinations of the meaning and implications of holy or sacred writings of the Old Testiment will not enjoy this book. The author, whatever his actual religious beliefs, probably wasn't an Old Testiment Christian. In this series of short writings he takes specific stories from the OT and holds them into the light away from the long traditions that accompany them in most of our minds. He examines the evidence of the stories for hints of what sort of creature God must be if the OT is true. He extropolates what Satan might be. I'm an admirer of this author and I believe everything he ever wrote is worth reading and digesting. I put this book alongside his best. But I also admit that if I harbored a microbe of religious fanatic somewhere inside me I'd be hard-pressed to enjoy reading Letters From the Earth.
Rating:
Summary: Razor-sharp Irreverence
Review: Mark Twain is an ancestor of mine, and I cannot help but glow with pride in that fact. If you're looking for Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn, this is not for you. "Letters from the Earth" is the epitome of Twain's extremely irreverent and sardonic perceptiveness, absolutely shattering to countless long-held religious tenets. In displaying the inanity of tradition for tradition's sake, LFTE is right on par with Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," though with an entirely different approach. Indispensible for questioning souls, but not at all recommended for the rigid-minded.
Rating:
Summary: Razor-sharp Irreverence
Review: Mark Twain is an ancestor of mine, and I cannot help but glow with pride in that fact. If you're looking for Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn, this is not for you. "Letters from the Earth" is the epitome of Twain's extremely irreverent and sardonic perceptiveness, absolutely shattering to countless long-held religious tenets. In displaying the inanity of tradition for tradition's sake, LFTE is right on par with Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," though with an entirely different approach. Indispensible for questioning souls, but not at all recommended for the rigid-minded.
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