{"product_id":"9781619492363","title":"Following the Equator","description":"\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSamuel Langhorne Clemens, or Mark Twain, as he was better known was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri, the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens. His father ran a dry goods and grocery store, practiced law and involved himself in local politics after the family's move to Hannibal, Missouri, when Sam was four years old.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHannibal seems to have been a good place for a boy to grow up. Sam was entranced by the Mississippi River and enjoyed both the barges and the people who traveled on them. When Sam was just eleven his father died and Sam went to work for his brother at the \u003ci\u003eHannibal Journal\u003c\/i\u003e first as a printer's apprentice and later a compositor. While still in his teens Sam went on the road as an itinerant printer. In 1857 he conceived a plan to seek his fortune in South America but on the way he met a steamboat captain, Horace Bixby who took him on as a cub riverboat pilot and taught him until he acquired his own license.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis enjoyable style of life, which Twain always spoke of later with special warmth was ended by the Civil War. Twain went west with his brother Orion to prospect in Nevada but in 1862 joined the staff of the Virginia City \u003ci\u003eTerritorial Enterprise\u003c\/i\u003e, a paper to which he had already begun submitting his work. Later Twain went to California and submitted \"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County\" to the \u003ci\u003eNew York Saturday Press\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy 1871 Twain had published \u003ci\u003eInnocents Abroad\u003c\/i\u003e and had married Olivia Langdon, the sister of a friend from a socially prominent New York City family. He and his wife moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where they made their family home for thenext 20 years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBooks that he wrote in Hartford confirmed his popular reputation but despite their success Twain found himself in financial difficulty primarily because of his investments in the Paige typesetting business as well as his own publishing company. Eventually Twain was forced to declare bankruptcy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwain's last major books were successful commercially but they also reflect his increasing pessimism. His satire becomes at times more biting and mean-spirited than it is humorous. Despite the downturn in Twain's outlook in later life and despite the unevenness of much of his work, he remains one of the major writers of the American nineteenth century, and one who has been enormously influential on subsequent writers.  ","brand":"Empire Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47063670259952,"sku":"9781619492363","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781619492363_p0.jpg?v=1763853443","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781619492363","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}