He was Sam Clemens, steamboat pilot, before he was Mark Twain, famous author. His better-known name originated with the lingo of navigation, and much of his writing was informed by his shipboard adventures on one of the world's great rivers. In this classic of American literature, Twain offers lively recollections ranging from his salad days as a novice pilot to views from the passenger deck in the twilight of the river culture's heyday. Under the...

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a humorous 1889 novel by American writer Mark Twain. In it, a Connecticut engineer is accidentally transported back to the time of King Arthur. He convinces the inhabitants of that time that he is a magician, and uses his knowledge of modern technology to stun them with such feats as demolitions, fireworks, and the shoring up of a holy well. Twain wrote the book as a satire of Romantic notions of chivalry...