

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories
Author: Mark Twain
Narrator: a full cast
Unabridged: 7 hr 42 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Published: 04/16/2009
Author: Mark Twain
Narrator: a full cast
Unabridged: 7 hr 42 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Published: 04/16/2009
Mark Twain is the pseudonym of American writer and humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), whose best work is characterized by broad, often irreverent humor or biting social satire. Twain's writing is also known for realism of place and language, memorable characters, and hatred of hypocrisy and oppression.
Born in Florida, Missouri, Clemens moved with his family to Hannibal, Missouri, a port on the Mississippi River, when he was four years old. There he received a public school education. After the death of his father in 1847, Clemens was apprenticed to two Hannibal printers, and in 1851 he began setting type for and contributing sketches to his brother Orion's Hannibal Journal. Subsequently he worked as a printer in Keokuk, Iowa; New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and other cities. Later, Clemens was a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River until the American Civil War brought an end to travel on the river. In 1862 he became a reporter on the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nevada, and in 1863 he began signing his articles with the pseudonym Mark Twain, a Mississippi River phrase meaning "two fathoms deep."
In 1867 Twain lectured in New York City, and in the same year he visited Europe and Palestine. He wrote of these travels in The Innocents Abroad, a book exaggerating those aspects of European culture that impress American tourists. Much of Twain's best work was written in the 1870s and 1880s, when he was living in Hartford, Connecticut, or during the summers at Quarry Farm, near Elmira, New York. Roughing It recounts his early adventures as a miner and journalist; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer celebrates boyhood in a town on the Mississippi River; A Tramp Abroad describes a walking trip through the Black Forest of Germany and the Swiss Alps; Life on the Mississippi combines an autobiographical account of his experiences as a river pilot with a visit to the Mississippi nearly two decades after he left it; and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court satirizes oppression in feudal England. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the sequel to Tom Sawyer, is considered Twain's masterpiece.
Twain's work during the 1890s and the 1900s is marked by growing pessimism and bitterness. Significant works of this period are Pudd'nhead Wilson, a novel set in the South before the Civil War that criticizes racism by focusing on mistaken racial identities, and Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, a sentimental biography.
In Twain's later years he wrote less, but he became a celebrity, frequently speaking out on public issues. He also came to be known for the white linen suit he always wore when making public appearances. Twain received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1907. When he died he left an uncompleted autobiography, which was eventually edited by his secretary, Albert Bigelow Paine, and published in 1924.
Legendary author Mark Twain presents a collection of essays, stories, and assorted other pieces, ranging from creative fantasies about a conman swindling a town of puritans to recounts of his short-lived adventures at soldiering to his opinion of Christian Scientists. A nice collection of very well......more
Temptation is a hard taskmaster! Today I read The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Short Stories by Mark Twain. This is one of his lesser known works but is still full of Twain magic. The small town of Hadleyburg is locally well known for the unflinching honesty of its citizens. A stranger th......more
A classic written by Twain. A short fiction story that was enjoyable and filled with humor. Poor Hadleyburg went from being a quiet little town to being corrupted due to a stranger passing by who was offended and plotted revenge against the people of the town. At the end, he did just that. This is a......more
some classically typical Twain short stories here that have stuck with me and some that don't have much relevance today. On the balance, most stories are good, but not 'must-read.' Not a bad use of time, reading this - but easily skipped.......more
This collection of short stories shows a different side of Mark Twain. Works such as these from later in his life have a cynicism that is not so prevalent in his earlier writing. Still, Twain's typical wit and twists of plot kept me laughing throughout.......more