The Twain Doctrine

The midcentury resurgence of interest in Mark Twain’s life and work was fueled by the propaganda operations of both the U.S. and U.S.S.R.

Athens By Moonlight: Mark Twain Tours Ancient Greece in The Innocents Abroad

Sam Clemens broke quarantine in 1867 to sneak into Athens and produce a vision of the “birthplace of democracy” that would appeal to American readers of the time.

The Suez Canal, #Stuckboat, & The Sinews of War and Trade with Laleh Khalili

On the past, present, & future of the Suez Canal.

150 Years Ago Mark Twain Celebrated New Years Eve By Debating How Drunk He Had Been During the Preceding Year & Listening to Charles Dickens Read David Copperfield With His Future Wife

1868 was a pretty important year for Sam Clemens. Over the course of it, he would turn the Quaker City cruise of the preceding year into a lucrative cross-country lecture tour and what would prove to be a bestselling book, The Innocents Abroad (1869). He made an extended stay in Washington, DC, gathering impressions which would form the basis for his first novel, The Gilded Age (1873), as well as several […]