Mark Twain

Stories and excerpts drawn from Caedmon recordings made in the 1950s and 1960s

Originally published over one hundred years ago, Roughing It tells the (almost) true story of Mark Twain's rollicking adventures across the United States. A hilarious account of how the author tried finding wealth in the rocks of Nevada, it was published before his most famous works and shows why he would grow to become one of the most beloved American writers of all time.

"I've struck it!" Mark Twain wrote in a 1904 letter to a friend. "And I will give it away--to you. You will never know how much enjoyment you have lost until you get to dictating your autobiography." Thus, after dozens of false starts and hundreds of pages, Twain embarked on his "Final (and Right) Plan" for telling the story of his life. His innovative notion--to "talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment"--meant that his thoughts...

This lighthearted farce features an American under the spell of Britain's aristocracy and an English earl equally intrigued by American democracy. While eccentric inventor Colonel Mulberry Sellers attempts to pursue his claim to the earldom of Rossmore, the rightful heir determines to renounce his title and find a place in American society. When the young lord's identity is wiped out in a hotel fire, he's free to assume a new name and realize his...

"Based on a set of unfinished Mark Twain notes for a children's story, this is the tale of Johnny, a young boy with a magical ability to speak to animals who sets off to rescue a stolen prince"--

The escapades of Tom Sawyer and his friend Huckleberry Finn in a little town along the Mississippi River.