This volume on Twain is among the first in a series of critical appraisals of American authors, 'The Best from American Literature, ' which reprints articles from the pages of that prestigious journal. . . . This amounts to a fascinating portrait of Samuel Clemens as author/performer/reformer/husband-man and public figure, thereby profiling the evolution of literary opinion and arbitration of an emerging canon.Overall, this valuable entry in the process of recollecting our past scholarship amounts to a most useful overview of American literary study. More important, the Twain selections represent an acutely balanced chronology of a complex talent. This volume and those following should be invaluable additions to academic collections.--Choice