Here is a look at the up-bringing of Mark Twain (born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835 - 1910) in Hannibal, Missouri accompanied by two 1910 photographs of the people who inspired the writer to create "Becky Thatcher" and "Huckleberry Finn". Also interviewed was the man who instructed the author in the skills required to pilot the Mississippi River.
The historian Henry Steele Commager chose to rank Mark Twain at number 4 insofar as his impact on the American mind was concerned - click here to understand his reasoning (does this still hold true?)...
