Here are the authoritative texts of Twain's shorter works--from "The Dandy Frightening the Squatter" to "The Mysterious Stranger"--with an introduction which relates Twain's writings to his life, philosophies, foibles and passions.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Note on the texts
• APPRENTICE PIECES
  • The Dandy Frightening the Squatter
  • from Letter to Annie Taylor
  • Letter from Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass
  • River Intelligence
  • A Washoe Joke
• RISE TO FAME
  • The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
  • Story of the Bad Little Boy
  • Arrival of Honolulu
  • In the Station House
  • Jim Wolf and the Tom-Cats
  • The Tomb of Adam
  • Jim Blain and His Grandfather's Old Ram
  • A Genuine Mexican Plug
  • Lost in the Snow
• MARK TWAIN IN HIS PRIME
  • A True Story
  • Old Times on the Mississippi
    • The Boys' Ambition
    • I Want to Be a Cub-Pilot
    • A Cub-Pilot's Experience
    • A Daring Deed
    • Perplexing Lessons
    • Continuing Perplexities
    • Completing My Education
    • The River Rises
    • Sounding
    • A Pilot's Needs
    • Rank and Dignity of Piloting
    • The Pilots' Monopoly
  • An Encounter with an Interviewer
  • The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut
  • The Whittier Birthday Speech
  • The Great Revolution in Pitcairn
  • The Babies
  • Baker's Blue-jay Yarn
  • The Awful German Language
  • Frescoes from the Past
  • The Private History of a Campaign that Failed
• LITERARY ESSAYS
  • The Art of Authorship
  • Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses
  • How to Tell a Story
• ON "THE DAMNED HUMAN RACE"
  • The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
  • To the Person Sitting in Darkness
  • The Mysterious Stranger