I became a book lover at a very early age when my mother read stories to me. Then I began to read books with great interest and enthusiasm because they were for me “magic carpets” that transported me back to the plains of Troy, Christmas in Charles Dickens’ London, and hanging out with a streetsmart country boy named Tom Sawyer. I am deeply grateful to Laura DeMarco whose book enabled me to tag along with Samuel Clemens, “wild with impatience to move — move — Move.” He certainly did.

Samuel Langhorn Clemens (November 30, 1835-April 21, 1910) was born in a small cabin in Florida, Missouri. Better known as Mark Twain, his travels included Hannibal, Saint Louis, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington (D.C.), Cincinnati, Keokuk,  New Orleans, Memphis, Salt Lake City, several locations in Nevada, San Francisco, Honolulu, New York City, Cleveland, Boston, Buffalo, Hartford, London (England), Chicago, Vicksburg, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Haven, and eventually Elmira (NY) again, where he was buried after his death in Redding (CT) in 1910.

It is easy to compile such a list and provide a few historical details but DeMarco’s genius involves more, far more than that. In Mark Twain’s America Then and Now, she combines superior research and a text of the very highest quality with an abundance of superb archival photographs…all seamlessly coordinated within a narrative that manages to keep pace with Twain’s restless, relentless curiosity.

These are among the “THEN and NOW” segments I found most interesting, with many of the photos inaccessible until DeMarco located them:

o The small cabin in Florida (Missouri) in which Samuel Langhorn Clemens was born, 1835-prsent (Pages 8-9)
o Hannibal, 1840s-present (10-11)
o Holliday’s Hill/Cardiff Hill in Hannibal  “where Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn lived out their boyhood adventures,” 1840s-present (16-17)
o Lake Tahoe/Nevada, 1861-present (42-4z3)
o Aurora/Virginia City (Nevada) , 1862-present (44-47)

o San Francisco, 1850-present (50-51)
o Cooper Institute, New York City, 1867-present (64-65)
o Emira Opera Hpouse, 1868-present (78-79
o 351 Farmington Avenue, Nook Farm, Hartford, 1874-present (98-97)
o Finally, his grave site at Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, 1910-present (142-143)

The juxtaposition of the “THEN and NOW” photographs certainly expands and enriches the context of the life Twain created for himself. He once observed, “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” Twain embraced life wherever he found himself. I have no idea what he feared, perhaps boredom.

Thank you, Laura DeMarco, for allowing so many of us to accompany Samuel Langhorn Clemens on what is indeed a magic carpet ride. I hope you agree to be a travel agent and tour guide for similar journeys in years to come.