This volume collects a variety of new, classic, and contemporary essays on Twain's life and works. The introduction offers a reflection on the author's enduring popularity and praises Twain's skillful re-creation of an authentic American vernacular in "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" and Huckleberry Finn. Other essays offer an analysis of two of Twain's travel books, Innocents Abroad and Roughing It, a discussion of the darker side of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and a three-part discussion of structure, themes, humor, and the treatment of race in Huckleberry Finn
