Lighting Out for the Territory:
How Samuel Clemens Headed West and
Became Mark Twain
by Roy Morris, Jr.
Simon & Schuster, 2010
America Collection
ISBN: 978-1-4165-9866-4
ISBN 978-1-4165-9867-1 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4391-0137-7 (ebook)
There are lots of books about Mark
Twain, about his travels, his lectures, his short stories and books,
but this one has an added element. Roy Morris, Jr is, in addition to
being a biographer, a former news reporter, and an author of 5 other
books about the Civil War and Post-Civil War years. In fact, there is
another book about Clemens, by another author, published in 1998 with the same title. This one, however, has more
of the historical context of the times, especially the Civil War influence on Clements' life. Morris also attempts to
identify the facts by checking other historical sources, because so much of the Clemens mystique came from the “stretched” stories of his life found in his
autobiography and writings.
Morris is able to present clearly the
background against which Samuel Clemens' life was lived. His
most formative years were the ramp-up to the Civil War, where even in
Hannibal, Missouri, the battle lines were beginning to form, folks
were arguing hotly about the issues, some even sparking violent
confrontations. When the war finally arrived, Clemens
was a riverboat captain, suddenly facing the possibility of having
his boat or his person, or both, commandeered to serve either side in the
fray, which was a terrifying thought for someone really not cut out
for politics or soldiering. He headed West.