Spanning Samuel Clemens's adult life -- from his eighteenth year until his death at seventy-four -- these marvelous letters provide an incomparable purview of their author's psyche and genius. They also serve as a second and even more intimate autobiography as we follow his career from typesetter to riverboat pilot, frontier miner, newspaper correspondent, world traveler, and eminently successful lecturer and author. There are also revealing insights into the highs and lows of his personal life as a free-wheeling bachelor, a loving husband, and a father destined to suffer shattering losses. - Jacket flap.