{"product_id":"american-vandal-9780674416697","title":"American Vandal","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUnintimidated by Old World sophistication or travel to undeveloped parts of the globe, Mark Twain spent a surprising amount of time outside the continental United States. Morris focuses on the dozen years he lived overseas and the books he wrote encouraging middle-class Americans to follow him around the world, at the dawn of mass tourism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMorris is a first-rate tour guide. He knows his subject, cites other authorities with respect and presents a good deal of information with easygoing, professional smoothness. [An] entertaining and—despite its title—eminently civilized book. -- Michael Dirda * Washington Post *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmerican Vandal\u003c\/i\u003e provides a fresh account of the great satirist’s life and work by arguing that his world view was the product of experience that was unusual for a popular American writer in this period. It offers us an account of the dozen years in total which Twain spent overseas, part of a life of travel that included twenty-nine transatlantic crossings, excursions across India, New Zealand, the Mediterranean and Caribbean… One strength of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Vandal\u003c\/i\u003e is that Morris places Twain’s travel writings at the heart of his achievement. -- Tom F. Wright * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eIf you want a guide through [Twain’s] travelogues or through the experiences that produced them, then you could not find a better one than Twain biographer Roy Morris Jr. He is not merely well-informed about his subject, he is truly attuned to the mind and sensibility of the man… \u003ci\u003eAmerican Vandal\u003c\/i\u003e shows a consistently sure and wise touch. -- Martin Rubin * Washington Times *\u003cbr\u003eMorris writes smoothly and engagingly about Mark Twain’s travels, through life as much as through foreign scenes. -- D. E. Sloane * Choice *\u003cbr\u003eIn this vibrant, fresh look at the venerable writer, historian Morris traces Twain’s journeys and his evolving perspective on world politics and peoples… A brisk narrative and sensitive insights make this book a delight. * Kirkus Reviews *\u003cbr\u003eFor readers not familiar with Mark Twain’s travel literature, Morris will open up a new facet of his extensive writing career… This lively overview provides an accessible entry point to the lesser‐known works of a great American writer. * Publishers Weekly *\u003cbr\u003eOnly an accomplished storyteller should dare to take up the life of our most revered raconteur, and Morris measures up. There is no shortage of Twain biographies; one as well researched and as well told as this one deserves to be among them. -- Lawrence Howe, author of \u003ci\u003eMark Twain and the Novel: The Double Cross of Authority\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMorris effectively evokes both the personal and political realities behind Twain’s fictions and semi-fictions to demonstrate how Twain himself debunked then-prevalent myths of travel and of national character. \u003ci\u003eAmerican Vandal\u003c\/i\u003e gives readers a fresh view of Mark Twain while casting a revealing light on American identity. -- James Leonard, editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Mark Twain Journal\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Harvard University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49403589722455,"sku":"9780674416697","price":32.36,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780674416697.jpg?v=1730483914","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/american-vandal-9780674416697","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}