Most of the 'misleading' sections of the Burns treatment (speaking of the second half - I missed the first) can be covered by simply reading Clemens' autobiography. It was written over a few years (and I was somewhat surprised at the lack of mention of it in the Burns piece), mostly dictated and covering fairly extensively his latter life. If any one thing can be said about it, it's that the man didn't pull many punches regarding his own life and how he felt about it.

To get a better feel for the man, I'd highly recommend reading it. And as a picture of despair written by someone in the deepest throes - read "The Death of Jean". Clemens wrote that very shortly after the death of his daughter, after the deaths of his wife and his daughter Susie.

I did feel that the second half overdid the tragic angles to an extent - as noted above, there were things in his life that made him VERY happy. The "Following the Equator" tour was VERY important to him. Burns briefly mentions that Clemens undertook the task of paying off all of his creditors (when he wasn't required to due to his bankruptcy), but doesn't (that I saw) touch on the elation that Clemens felt upon paying them off.

Again, as with Burns' other work: Uneven, but a good piece of work, and as with ANY nonfiction... if it inspires you to read more or research on the subject, it's done it's job.

M