Sam Clemens of Hannibal

A loving appraisement of the sources of Mark Twain's writings in his own youth. Twain's idealized early years were grist to the mill of his fertile imagination--with even his later works such as The Prince & the Pauper, & The Connecticut Yankee having roots in boyhood enthusiasms. In tapping new sources in this account that treats microscopically of Twain's progenitors, Twain & the man, neighbors & playmates, much of the incidental life of Hannibal--has points of variance with the accepted biography by Albert Bigelow Paine, will make for some interesting speculation. Wecter carries his stories thru to the writer's initiation into journalism, his sophomoric efforts in wit & mock heroics, & his decision to leave Hannibal for the wide world.--Kirkus