Mark Twain A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Writings (Critical Companion)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference to Twain and his world!
Review: Elvis, the Beatles and Marilyn Monroe have received the A to Z treatment in which every aspect of their lives and works have been reordered alphabetically, so it was only a matter of time that the mania would spread to lesser figures, in this case Mark Twain, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. This series of three books, originally published by Facts On File and now updated and reprinted by Oxford University Press, combines facts culled from the writers' lives and works, shakes them up thoroughly, and recasts them into easily locatable entries. The result is an addictive pleasure, a page-turning odyessy for anyone interested in learning more about their favorite writer. Mark Twain's fans will rightfully go ga-ga over this 500-page slab of scholarship, research and story telling. All of Twain's major works are discussed, as well as many of his short stories, speeches, newspaper articles, essays and unpublished works. Photos of the great man himself and his contemporaries are thrown in alongside illustrations from the novels. A year-by-year multi-columned chronology charts Twain's personal, professional and public lives. In short, the breadth and depth of this book is astonishing.

Rating:
Summary: Get it!
Review: I cannot add to what has been stated. But I can say that any person who seriously reads Mark Twain, including getting his/her hands on any works available by Him, will want, no, need this volume. Encyclopaedias are wonderful sources of detail, and to have one specifically centered upon an author and his works, life, friends & acquaintances, etc. is actually even better, for all effort has been placed in detailing everything possible rather than only bits and pieces.

I enjoy just reading this book from the beginning. Having been to Twain's places of residence (including his grave site), this volume simply makes such a trek more interesting and intriguing.

Rating:
Summary: It is a masterpiece of the life and times of Mark Twain!
Review: This book helped me extensively during my search for biographical information about Mark Twain. It gives great insight to the life and times of Mark Twain. It contains anything and everything one would care to know about Samuel Clemens and his metamorphosis to one of the greatest writers ever known; Mark Twain.