About the Author

Mark Twain, who was born Samuel L. Clemens in Missouri in 1835, wrote some of the most enduring works of literature in the English language, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc was his last completed book--and, by his own estimate, his best. Its acquisition by Harper & Brothers allowed Twain to stave off bankruptcy. He died in 1910.

Ed Begley, Sr. was a prolific radio actor and from 1944-1948 he played the title role in the radio version of Charlie Chan. In 1947, Begley created the role of benighted war profiteer Joe Keller in Arthur Miller's All My Sons. He was a familiar figure in TV's "golden age" of the 1950s, and appeared 789 times as the William Jennings Bryan counterpart in the Broadway drama Inherit the Wind.