Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol I

[Wry Catcher]

An excerpt from a review on a release of Mark Twain's autobiography help back by his request until now, one hundred years after his death.

"We are always preaching the virtues of independence and tolerance", he tells us in the Autobriography, "but we tend to take our opinions from others and herd ourselves into self-protective groups. We are discreet sheep...we wait to see how the drove is going and then go with the drove".

Listen to Twain on the subject of his generation's craven political behavior, and you will hear a voice that sounds as if it is still among us:

"Look at the candidates whom we loathe, one year, and are afraid to vote against, the next; whom we cover with unimaginable filth, one year, and fall down on the public platform and worship, the next - and keep on doing it until the habitual shutting of the eyes to last years evidences brings us presently to a sincere and stupid belief in this year's".

 

[Wry Catcher]

So, what's everyone reading today?

 

[Wry Catcher]

Clearly too highbrow for this audience.

 

[Wry Catcher]

No one reads the new book reviews in the Sunday papers? Why is Wry not surprised.

 

[del]

the report of his death was greatly exaggerated.

 

[elvis]

the report of his death was greatly exaggerated.

Halley's comet brought him into the world and took him out.

 

[Madeline]

I knew this was coming, but not that it was out. Unless it costs the earth, I'm buying.

*Runs to reserve a copy at my library*

 

[Baruch Menachem]

Everyone knows this stuff. Sam proves his point by being too timid to have it printed till his heirs won't loose by the obvious.

Sam always had a problem with being afraid of his own material.

 

[Wry Catcher]

Everyone knows this stuff. Sam proves his point by being too timid to have it printed till his heirs won't loose by the obvious.

Sam always had a problem with being afraid of his own material.

Not everyone "knows his stuff" and how do you know Mr. Clemens "always had a problem with being afraid of his own material"?
His "stuff" is classic, entertaining, thought provoking and most of all a time capsule on an earlier time in our nations history.
For those of us who enjoy biography, an autobiography is a real treat.
For others, who don't know his stuff, enjoy the link the "The Damned Human Race", simply reading a few paragraphs tells us much about the man.

The Damned Human Race On the Damned Human Race

 

[editec]

An excerpt from a review on a release of Mark Twain's autobiography help back by his request until now, one hundred years after his death.

"We are always preaching the virtues of independence and tolerance", he tells us in the Autobriography, "but we tend to take our opinions from others and herd ourselves into self-protective groups. We are discreet sheep...we wait to see how the drove is going and then go with the drove".

Listen to Twain on the subject of his generation's craven political behavior, and you will hear a voice that sounds as if it is still among us:

"Look at the candidates whom we loathe, one year, and are afraid to vote against, the next; whom we cover with unimaginable filth, one year, and fall down on the public platform and worship, the next - and keep on doing it until the habitual shutting of the eyes to last years evidences brings us presently to a sincere and stupid belief in this year's".

I'll be reading it, Wry.

Of course all it will do is reinforce my contempt and disgust for most of humankind.

Like I need more grist for that mill?!

But Twain's such fine writer that I won't be able to stop myself.

What I am reading now?

I'm rereading (after about three decades) " A Distant Mirror" by Barbara Tuchman.

It's better this time around because I think I understand the implications of it better than I did the first time around.

Then it was merely history.

Now it's a sort of prophetic blueprint that's helping me fathom how societies change under stress.

The simliarities between the period that spelled end of feudalism and this time, which I believe is the end game of nationalism, are fairly remarkable.

History doesn't repeat itself, of course, but I definitely do think we're on the cusp of a change no less dramatic than what they were facing then.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

Everyone knows this stuff. Sam proves his point by being too timid to have it printed till his heirs won't loose by the obvious.

Sam always had a problem with being afraid of his own material.

Not everyone "knows his stuff" and how do you know Mr. Clemens "always had a problem with being afraid of his own material"?
His "stuff" is classic, entertaining, thought provoking and most of all a time capsule on an earlier time in our nations history.
For those of us who enjoy biography, an autobiography is a real treat.
For others, who don't know his stuff, enjoy the link the "The Damned Human Race", simply reading a few paragraphs tells us much about the man.

The Damned Human Race On the Damned Human Race

No question the book is great, even in its bowdlerized form that he originally authorized. He saw what Grant could do and tried to do better, but obviously recognized that was an impossible dream. Which is why the redacted edition.

But the opinion in your OP is very much old hat. You read the same thing right here on USMB on a daily basis, just not as well stated. And that opinion has been current on the lips of every honest observer, and quite a few of the dishonest ones as well, since the days of Pericles.

 

[Old Rocks]

Clemons had many things to say on societies morals and mores. Most would have been very unpopular in his time. Some still are. He has a way of making you see things from a fresh point of view. Which is what a great author has to do.