By Host Tom Ashbrook:

If there’s a giant of American literature who spans the muddy waters of Katrina and the bloody mess of Iraq, it has to be Mark Twain.

The tribal chief of American letters, Twain cut his teeth on Mississippi riverboats churning to New Orleans, and cut to the quick of his nation’s character in essays on American military adventures in Cuba and the Philippines.

Now, Pulitzer prize-winning author Ron Powers is out with a thumping new biography of Samuel Clemens – aka Mark Twain – the fierce humorist, lyrical artist, roughneck and rich man, and original American superstar.

Hear a conversation with Powers about his definitive biography of the wild and wooly writer who gave America its voice.

Guests:

Ron Powers, author of “Mark Twain: A Life.”;
The music featured in this program was the Overture from the world premiere performance of “Mark Twain’s World: A Symphonic Journey with Genuine Thespians,” composed by Christopher Brubeck, performed and commissioned by the Stockton Symphony, Peter Jaffe, Music Director. It was funded in part through a composer-in-residence grant from Music Alive, a joint project of the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet the Composer.