Sam Clemens died in his home in Redding, Fairfield County, Connecticut, 93 years ago today. To my mind he was one of the greatest writers the world has produced. I don't think there has ever been anyone who better understood the peculiarity of the American spirit as it found its way out of the nineteenth century.

Here's to you, Sam. Thanks for being Mark Twain -- no-one else could have pulled it off.


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