David Rachels – författare

When the Civil War halted steamboat travel on the Mississippi River in 1861, an unemployed riverboat pilot named Samuel Clemens enlisted in the Missouri militia. After two weeks of service, Clemens abandoned his post and fled westward to begin a writing career -- a turn of events that precipitated the rise to fame of the man who would become known as Mark Twain. The circumstances surrounding his departure are unclear; some view Twain as a deserter, while others call into question the nature of his commitment from the beginning. Twain defended himself in speeches and in print, offering varying accounts -- with varying degrees of truth -- of his confusion upon enrollment, his ignorance of the moral and political forces behind the war, and his claim to have killed a man while hiding in a corncrib. Regardless of the reason for his desertion, his personal experiences and the Civil War in general are recurring topics in Twain''s speeches, fiction, and nonfiction. In addition to broaching the issue in longer works, such as Life on the Mississippi and The Gilded Age, Twain directly addresses it in shorter pieces such as "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed" and "A Curious Experience." Editor David Rachels unites these selections in Mark Twain''s Civil War, offering Twain fans and Civil War scholars the unprecedented opportunity to read the entire array of Twain''s Civil War-influenced literature in one volume. In addition to Twain''s own pieces, Rachels includes an account of Twain''s war career by his official biographer as well as a story by Absalom C. Grimes, a Confederate mail runner who claims to have served with Twain early in the war. An introduction by Rachels completes the text, which analyzes Twain''s military stint and assesses the war''s profound influence on one of America''s most celebrated authors.

This collection of Twain’s fiction and nonfiction on the subject “provides insight into the war’s influence on this great American writer” (The Post and Courier, Charleston).   Had there been no Civil War, the eminent American author known as Mark Twain would likely have spent his life as Sam Clemens, the Mississippi River steamboat pilot. When the war came and the steamboats stopped running, Clemens served two weeks in the Missouri State Guard before he fled west to begin his career as a writer.   After the Civil War dramatically altered the course of Twain’s life and career, his thoughts and stories about the war were published widely. Mark Twain’s Civil War marks the first opportunity for readers to survey the full range of his Civil War writings in one volume. The book contains autobiographical pieces as well as fiction, making it an enlightening read for both Twain enthusiasts and Civil War scholars.