America's Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens, the man, was as legendary a character as any he created in fiction. There was drama in his birth which took place while Halley's Comet was sweeping through the night, adventure in his boyhood and his years spent on the Mississippi River boats, humor that stayed with him all his life, involving him in practical jokes, hoaxes and escapades that entertained America and most of Europe, and a deep humanity that helped him bear the tragedies that befell in later life.

In this biography, May McNeer has not only told the wonderful story that is the life of Mark Twain but she has caught the spirit of a remarkable American man who was recognized even in his own lifetime as a literary genius, a man whose position as America’s greatest humorist has never been challenged, a man whose Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn won for him a permanent place in the affections of generations of young people.

As with the other books, Lynd Ward has created magnificent full-color paintings that make the book as much a pleasure to look at as to read. In America's Mark Twain, there is a special treat. There are miniature books within the book, illustrating some of Mark Twain’s favorite titles and inviting readers to read the books themselves.
The well-known author-artist team of May McNeer and Lynd Ward collaborated on many books together, including My Friend Mac, Up a Crooked River, and Waif Maid.
As a child, May McNeer loved to read, write, and draw; in fact, her first published story appeared in a Washington, DC newspaper when she was 11 years old. In high school, she made a fateful decision to give up drawing for writing. She later settled this point once and for all by marrying Lynd Ward. May attended the University of Georgia School of Journalism and graduated in 1926 from the Columbia School of Journalism. That same year, she and Ward spent a year in Europe before returning to the United States to work on publishing books.

Lynd Ward was the 1953 winner of the Caldecott award for The Biggest Bear, which he wrote and illustrated. A graduate (also in 1926) of Teachers College of Columbia University with a degree in Fine Arts, he studied at the National Academy for Graphic Arts in Leipzig, Germany. After his return to the U.S., he began illustrating books and, in 1929, published Gods’ Man, his first novel in woodcut.
May McNeer 1902 - 1994
Lynd Ward 1905 - 1985