Introducing Diversion Classics, an illustrated series that showcases great works of literature from the world's most beloved authors. LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI is the definitive guide to the Mississippi River Valley, and who better to illustrate this colorful region than Mark Twain? Drawing on boyhood memories, historical records, and tall tales, Twain crafts a portrait of the place where he spent his formative years. Both witty and informative, this classic travel narrative is an ideal companion to Twain’s Mississippi River novels, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN and TOM SAWYER.
Introducing Diversion Classics, an illustrated series that showcases great works of literature from the world's most beloved authors. In this first-person story of the Garden of Eden, the world’s first woman chronicles her daily life. Eve’s observations of the natural world, her own existence, and of course, her husband, Adam, are both comical and poignant. From her entrance into Eden to her eventual death, EVE’S DIARY is Mark Twain’s unique spin on one of the most well-known stories in history.
Introducing Diversion Classics, an illustrated series that showcases great works of literature from the world's most beloved authors. In this parody of a traditional travelogue, Mark Twain chronicles his expedition through Europe to the Holy Land. Although based on true events, THE INNOCENTS ABREAD is as full of ironic wit and smart satire as any of Twain’s novels. As the story takes us from France to Rome to Jerusalem, we discover truths about our world and its inhabitants, seen through Twain’s uniquely humorous lens.
Introducing Diversion Classics, an illustrated series that showcases great works of literature from the world's most beloved authors. Like its sequel, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER is a timeless tale and a staple of American literature. Following Tom as he tricks unsuspecting townspeople and discovers dangerous secrets, this seminal story paints a picture of youth and adulthood on the Mississippi. Mark Twain’s sly humor and penchant for adventure shine through in this must-read American classic.
Introducing Diversion Classics, an illustrated series that showcases great works of literature from the world's most beloved authors. Tom Canty, homeless beggar and thief, has nothing in common with Prince Edward, heir to the British throne, except their uncannily similar looks. When they devise a plan to trade places, the repercussions are greater than either could have imagined. Mark Twain’s characteristic humor and incomparable storytelling come together in this witty and smartly crafted exploration of identity.
Introducing Diversion Classics, an illustrated series that showcases great works of literature from the world's most beloved authors. Two beloved tales of growing up on the Mississippi, from one of America’s most celebrated writers. THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER and its sequel, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, follow two boys on dangerous adventures and journeys of self-discovery. Twain’s sharp satire and observations on race make this classic duo a necessity for modern readers.
A comprehensive alphabetical reference (abacus to zoot suit) that supplies information on archaic or obscure terms in significant literature from the Bible and Shakespeare's plays to The Autobiography of Malcolm X and The Handmaid's Tale. Such terms can elucidate character and reveal history, fashion, and custom. Pronunciation, etymology, alternate spellings, and examples of literary uses are included, as well as some 800 small bandw illustrations. With bibliography, references, and author/title and subject indexes. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This grand collection of Mark Twain's short stories contains his famous humorous tales, children's stories, satires, and other sketches written in his recognizable witty style: The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Aurelia's Unfortunate Young Man A Complaint about Correspondents, Dated in San Francisco Answers to Correspondents Among the Fenians The Story of the Bad Little Boy Who Didn't Come to Grief Curing a Cold An Inquiry about Insurances Literature in the Dry Diggings 'After' Jenkins Lucretia Smith's Soldier The Killing of Julius Caesar 'Localized' An Item which the Editor Himself could not Understand Among the Spirits Brief Biographical Sketch of George Washington A Touching Story of George Washington's Boyhood A Page from a Californian Almanac Information for the Million The Launch of the Steamer Capital Origin of Illustrious Men Advice for Good Little Girls Concerning Chambermaids Remarkable Instances of Presence of Mind Honored as a Curiosity in Honolulu The Steed 'Oahu' A Strange Dream Short and Singular Rations Mark Twain's Burlesque Autobiography and First Romance Burlesque Autobiography Awful, Terrible Medieval Romance Merry Tales The Private History of a Campaign That Failed The Invalid's Story Luck The Captain's Story A Curious Experience Mrs. Mc Williams and the Lightning Meisterschaft The £1,000,000 Bank Note and Other New Stories The Million Pound Bank Note Mental Telegraphy The Enemy Conquered About all Kinds of Ships Playing Courier The German Chicago A Petition to the Queen of England A Majestic Literary Fossil Sketches New and Old The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories The Curious Republic of Gondour and Other Whimsical Sketches Alonzo Fitz, and Other Stories Mark Twain's Library of Humor Other Stories Biography Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer.
While John McPhee was working on his previous book, Rising from the Plains, he happened to walk by the engineering building at the University of Wyoming, where words etched in limestone said: "Strive on--the control of Nature is won, not given." In the morning sunlight, that central phrase--"the control of nature"--seemed to sparkle with unintended ambiguity. Bilateral, symmetrical, it could with equal speed travel in opposite directions. For some years, he had been planning a book about places in the world where people have been engaged in all-out battles with nature, about (in the words of the book itself) "any struggle against natural forces--heroic or venal, rash or well advised--when human beings conscript themselves to fight against the earth, to take what is not given, to rout the destroying enemy, to surround the base of Mt. Olympus demanding and expecting the surrender of the gods." His interest had first been sparked when he went into the Atchafalaya--the largest river swamp in North America--and had learned that virtually all of its waters were metered and rationed by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' project called Old River Control. In the natural cycles of the Mississippi's deltaic plain, the time had come for the Mississippi to change course, to shift its mouth more than a hundred miles and go down the Atchafalaya, one of its distributary branches. The United States could not afford that--for New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and all the industries that lie between would be cut off from river commerce with the rest of the nation. At a place called Old River, the Corps therefore had built a great fortress--part dam, part valve--to restrain the flow of the Atchafalaya and compel the Mississippi to stay where it is. In Iceland, in 1973, an island split open without warning and huge volumes of lava began moving in the direction of a harbor scarcely half a mile away. It was not only Iceland's premier fishing port (accounting for a large percentage of Iceland's export economy) but it was also the only harbor along the nation's southern coast. As the lava threatened to fill the harbor and wipe it out, a physicist named Thorbjorn Sigurgeirsson suggested a way to fight against the flowing red rock--initiating an all-out endeavor unique in human history. On the big island of Hawaii, one of the world's two must eruptive hot spots, people are not unmindful of the Icelandic example. McPhee went to Hawaii to talk with them and to walk beside the edges of a molten lake and incandescent rivers. Some of the more expensive real estate in Los Angeles is up against mountains that are rising and disintegrating as rapidly as any in the world. After a complex coincidence of natural events, boulders will flow out of these mountains like fish eggs, mixed with mud, sand, and smaller rocks in a cascading mass known as debris flow. Plucking up trees and cars, bursting through doors and windows, filling up houses to their eaves, debris flows threaten the lives of people living in and near Los Angeles' famous canyons. At extraordinary expense the city has built a hundred and fifty stadium-like basins in a daring effort to catch the debris. Taking us deep into these contested territories, McPhee details the strategies and tactics through which people attempt to control nature. Most striking in his vivid depiction of the main contestants: nature in complex and awesome guises, and those who would attempt to wrest control from her--stubborn, often ingenious, and always arresting characters.
