Roughing It

by Mark Twain

Book Overview

A marvelously vivid, many-sided portrait of America's frontier days.

Mark Twain's rambling took him all over the American West during teh 1860's. He prospected for gold and silver, speculated on timber and mining stocks, sailed to Hawaii, and worked for a succession of small newspapers. In Roughing It, his fictionalized account of these years, tall tales abound, as do sketches of unforgettable characters: desperadoes, vigilantes, newspapermen,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140390103
• ISBN13: 9780140390100
• Release Date: December 1981
• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A 19th-century ON THE ROAD

Although the culture of consumerism didn't fully develop in the United States until the latter part of the 19th century, it began to emerge at the same time that tourism did. As early as 1865, the nation's tourist attractions became consumer items promoted by the railroads and stagecoach companies. We get a taste for what tourism west of the Mississippi was like in the mid-19th century from Mark Twain, who wrote a veritable On the Road for the stagecoach in Roughing It. This lively account of his actual and imagined adventures takes place on a trip from Missouri to Nevada in 1861. As expected, few writers sketch a more vivid picture of the men who graced the tours with their less-than-urbane services. Twain pays particularly keen attention to the stagecoach superintendent, who "was a very, very great man in his "division"--a kind of Grand Mogul, a Sultan of the Indies, in whose presence common men were modest of speech and manner, and in the glare of whose greatness even the dazzling stage-driver dwindled to a penny dip." But Twain's real admiration was reserved for "my delight, the driver...We took a new driver every day or every night (for they drove backward and forward over the same piece of road all the time, and therefore we never got well acquainted with them...and besides, they would have been above being familiar with such rubbish as passengers." The stages weren't the only transcontinental services to be glamorized; the mail and freight carriers were too, and naturally Mark Twain had an unparalleled insight into these mythic riders, especially the riders of The Pony Express: "No matter what time of the day or night his watch came on, and no matter whether it was winter or summer, raining, snowing, hailing, or sleeting, or whether his `beat' was a level straight road or a crazy trail over mountain crags and precipices, or whether it led through peaceful regions or regions that swarmed with hostile Indians, he must always be ready to leap into the saddle and be off like the wind!" Nine years after these passages were written, however, Twain's observations were already to be made obsolete. In May 1869, the Union Pacific announced the grand opening of the Union Pacific railroad that "traveled clear through to San Francisco in less than four days," the announcements proclaimed, and with "no dangers from the sea."

Twain's Western Adventures

This book is a mixture of hilarious misadventures and glimpses into what the "old west" must have been really like.

A COMIC GENIUS

(born Nov.1835, Florida, Mo.,US-died April 21,1910, Redding,Conn.) -humorist,writer and lecturer. 'ROUGHING IT'is Twain's decription of his adventures in Nevada,Califonia,and the Sandwich Islands originally published in (1872).After the immediate success of the publication of 'THE INNOCENTS ABROAD'which firmly established Twain's reputation as a writer he was spurned on by the AMERICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY to bring out a volume based on his experiences in the west.Thus, 'ROUGHING IT' was created.A highly entertaining and humurous narrative of his escapades in the Western United States towards the end of the 19th Century. A little taste: from (copyright 1979 Running Press) This is the before and after descriptions of a company of men lost in a snow storm-with little or no hope of survival. Before (impending doom) "...Poor Ollendorff broke down and the tears came.He was not alone,for I was crying too,and so was Mr. Ballou.Ollendorff forgave me for things I had done and said.Then he got out his bottle of whisky and said that whether he lived or died he would never touch another drop.He said he had given up all hope of life,and although ill-prepared,was ready to submit humbly to his fate-----------Mr.Ballou made remarks of similar purport,and began the reform he could not live to continue,by throwing away his ancient pack of cards--------My own remarks were of the same tenor as those of my comrades.We were all sincere,and all deeply moved and earnest,for we were in the precense of death and without hope.I threw away my pipe,and in doing it,I felt that at last I was free of a hated vice and one that had ridden me like a tyrant all my life.We put our arms around each other's necks and awaited the warning drowziness that occurs with death by freezing. After-(Alive and Well) After breakfast we felt better,and the zest of life soon came back.The world looked bright again,and existence was as dear to us as ever.Presently and uneasiness came over me-grew upon me-assailed me without ceasing.Alas,my regeneration was not complete-I wanted to smoke! I resisted with all my strength,but the flesh was weak.I wandered away alone and wrestled with myself for an hour.I recalled my promises of reform and preached to myself persuasively,unbraidingly,exaustively.But all was in vain,I shortly found myself sneaking amoung the snowdrifts hunting for my pipe.I discovered it after a considerable search,and crept away to hide myself to enjoy it.At last I lit my pipe,and no human can feel meaner and baser than I did then.I was ashamed of being in my own pitiful company.Still dreading discovery,I felt that perhaps the further side of the barn would be somewhat safer,and so I turned the corner.As I turned the corner,smoking,Ollendorff turned the other with his bottle to his lips,and between us sat unconscious Ballou deep in a game of "solitaire" with the old greasy cards..." Turn to Chapters 22 and 23 for a more cohesive description of this comic episode. Laughter i

Frontier life through the eyes of Americas greatest satirist

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of travel logs, journals, reports, diaries, etc. that tell about the American West in the mid-nineteenth century. This book by Mark Twain, however, is both unique and one of the best. This is travel writing as it should be. Twain, traveling across the plains from Missouri to Nevada in the early 1860's, and spending seven years loafing about Nevada, California, and Hawaii, collected and compiled his experiences into this extraordinary book. One of the best things about Twain, of course, is his unique view on things. This tale is told in Twain's wry, humorous style, and is very enjoyable. This book is not quite as pessimistic as Twain's other great travel writing, `The Innocents Abroad,' but it does include some interesting and unorthodox views which often prove hilarious. Twain spends time as a gold and silver seeker, a speculator, a journalist, and a vagabond (as he himself puts it), and puts a unique spin on each of these occupations. As far as travel writing goes, this book is indispensable, and it also proves quite valuable (odd as it may seem) in any thorough study of frontier life in the American West.