Mark Twain (1835-1910) was the first American writer to capture the unique and colorful vernacular of his country's populace. Instead of striving to perfect any particular literary form, Twain strove to precisely imprint on paper the colloquial speech, mannerisms and experiences of the American people.

Twain's books earned him an enduring reputation as a satirist and humorist, but he also wrote great short stories. These stories, with their wonderful characters and witty turns-of-phrase, have defined in Americans' minds what it means to have been at a time in our country which was at once optimistic, exploratory and recklessly exploitative.

Listeners can still benefit today from hearing Mark Twain's stories and selections from his novels as they become again what they originally were: the oral history of our uniquely American consciousness.

Includes selections from Life on the Mississippi, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Roughing It, and The Autobiography of Mark Twain, and the short stories The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, The 1,000,000 Bank-Note, The Joke That Made Ed's Fortune, A Dog's Tale, A Story Without an End and many more.

Performed by Ed Begley, Sr., Walter Brennan, Brandon de Wilde, Will Geer, and David Wayne