Mark Twain's America: A Celebration in Words and Images

Mark Twain is an American icon with international acclaim. This is a great book to learn about Mark Twain and the America he wrote and lectured about. Filled with fun tidbits and stories as well as wonderful images.Regarding the 1 star review, I must disagree with this review. This book was never meant to be a academic tome. It is a coffee table book for people who are interested in Mark Twain, America, humor, social commentary. That means it is a book for everyone, not just academics.I recommend this as a great Holiday present, graduation gift, and anytime gift.

I gave this to my Father on Christmas Day and he was thrilled. He's a huge Twain fan, has read all his writings and those by many others, and he is very happy to add this wonderful book to his collection. I'm so glad I saw this for him!

The book has failed miserably to live up to its promises. It suffers from a continuous stream of misleading statements, incorrect facts, incorrect dates, and exhibits an overall misunderstanding of Mark Twain's literary output. Over 100 errors and serious omissions have been documented. It received a scathing review on the Mark Twain Forum (which can be found online) on November 5, 2014 by prominent Mark Twain scholar Kevin Mac Donnell who also identifies ethical and possibly legal issues regarding unattributed and unauthorized use of the work of other sources.On December 8, the Library of Congress issued this statement: "The Library has determined and deeply regrets that its regular and rigorous review protocols were not followed in the editing of this publication. We are identifying where and how these processes broke down in this instance and implementing measures to ensure an egregious lapse of this nature does not occur again."

Before purchasing this book, please do a little research on the authenticity, veracity, and originality of its contents. While Twain was not above marketing his fame for profit, this slapdash money grab is an insult to his legacy.Misinformation, erroneous conclusions, and uncited text lifted directly from R. Kent Rasmussen's "Mark Twain A to Z." Were Sam alive today, we could all relish the satirical tongue-lashing he would inflict upon this publication and its assemblers.Mark Twain's America is an embarrassment to the Library of Congress, who no doubt would like to collect every copy and remove its name from the cover.

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