Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835 in Florida, Missouri, and grew up in Hannibal on the Mississippi River—a town he later transformed into the fictional St. Petersburg. He worked as a printer, steamboat pilot, and miner before turning to journalism. The pen name Mark Twain, river slang for safe depth, appeared on sketches that mixed vernacular speech with sharp social observation.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) captured antebellum boyhood and the moral crisis of slavery through Huck's journey with Jim. Twain's travel books, lectures, and short stories made him an international celebrity. Later works such as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court satirized technology and authority, while essays condemned European colonialism and American intervention in the Philippines.

Financial troubles from bad investments pushed Twain back onto the lecture circuit. He received honorary degrees from Oxford and Yale and became America's most photographed author. Clemens died in 1910 in Redding, Connecticut, leaving manuscripts that continued to reveal his restless humor and anger at injustice.

1. 1835

   Birth in Missouri

   Clemens was born shortly after Halley's Comet appeared; he would joke that he arrived and departed with the comet.

2. 1857

   Mississippi Pilot

   He earned a steamboat license and memorized the river—a experience central to his literary voice and metaphors.

3. 1865

   Jumping Frog Sketch

   A tall tale published in New York papers brought national attention and confirmed his Mark Twain persona.

4. 1884

   Huckleberry Finn

   The novel's publication in the United States advanced literary realism and sparked ongoing debate over its language and themes.

5. 1910

   Death in Connecticut

   Clemens died of heart disease in Redding; newspapers mourned the loss of America's most beloved humorist.