A masterpiece collection of great literature, The Great Short Works of Mark Twain belongs on every bookshelf, featuring classics such as Old Times on the Mississippi, The Mysterious Stranger, The Jumping Frog, and more.

Beloved by millions, Mark Twain is the quintessential American writer. More than anyone else, his blend of scepticism, caustic wit and sharp prose defines a certain American mythos. While his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is still taught to anyone who attends school and is considered by many to be the Great American Novel, Twain's shorter stories and criticisms have unequalled style and bite.

In a review that's less than kind to the writing of James Fenimore Cooper, Twain writes: "Every time a Cooper person is in peril, and absolute silence is worth four dollars a minute, he is sure to step on a dry twig. There may be a hundred handier things to step on, but that wouldn't satisfy Cooper. Cooper requires him to turn out and find a dry twig; and if he can't do it, go and borrow one." It's difficult to imagine anyone else writing in quite this style, which is why Twain's legacy only continues to grow.

Introduction by Justin KapIan

A Note on the Text

OLD TIMES ON THE MISSlSSIPPI (The Atlantic Monthly, Jan., Feb., March, April, May, June, and August, i875)

THE JUMPING FROG (Sketches, New and Old)

THE GREAT LANDSLIDE CASE (Roughing It)

JIM BLAINE AND His GRANDFATHER'S RAM

(Roughing It)

A TRUE STORY (Sketches, New and Old)

ACCIDENT INSURXNCE-ETC. (Mark Twain's Speeches)

THE FACTS CONCERNING THE RECENT CARNIVAL OF CRIME IN CONNECTICUT (Tom Sawyer Abroad)

THE STORY OF A SPEECH (Mark Twain's Speeches)

JIM BAKER'S BLUEJAY (,4 Tramp Abroad)

THE PRIVATE HISTORY OF A CAMPAIGN THAT FAILED (American Claimant)

LETTER TO THE EARTH (Letters from the Earth)

FEN[MORE COOPER'S LITERARY OFFENSES (In Defense of Harriet Shelley)

How TO TELL A STORY (The $30,000 Bequest)

CORN-PONE OPINIONS (Europe and Elsewhere)

THE UNITED STATES OF LYNCHERDOM (Europe and Elsewhere)

To THE PERSON SITTING IN DARKNESS (Europe and Elsewhere)

THE WAR PRAYER (Europe and Elsewhere)

THE TURNING POINT OF MY LIFE (What Is Man?)

THE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBURG

THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

A Chronology

A Bibliography