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Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-The-World
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Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-The-World Comedy Tour Hardback - 2016

by Richard Zacks

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Reader reviews for Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-The-World Comedy Tour

From the publisher

From Richard Zacks, bestselling author of Island of Vice and The Pirate Hunter, a rich and lively account of how Mark Twain's late-life adventures abroad helped him recover from financial disaster and family tragedy--and revived his world-class sense of humor

Mark Twain, the highest-paid writer in America in 1894, was also one of the nation's worst investors. "There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate," he wrote. "When he can't afford it and when he can." The publishing company Twain owned was failing; his investment in a typesetting device was bleeding red ink. After losing hundreds of thousands of dollars back when a beer cost a nickel, he found himself neck-deep in debt. His heiress wife, Livy, took the setback hard. "I have a perfect horror and heart-sickness over it," she wrote. "I cannot get away from the feeling that business failure means disgrace."
But Twain vowed to Livy he would pay back every penny. And so, just when the fifty-nine-year-old, bushy-browed icon imagined that he would be settling into literary lionhood, telling jokes at gilded dinners, he forced himself to mount the "platform" again, embarking on a round-the-world stand-up comedy tour. No author had ever done that. He cherry-picked his best stories--such as stealing his first watermelon and buying a bucking bronco--and spun them into a ninety-minute performance.
Twain trekked across the American West and onward by ship to the faraway lands of Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, India, Ceylon, and South Africa. He rode an elephant twice and visited the Taj Mahal. He saw Zulus dancing and helped sort diamonds at the Kimberley mines. (He failed to slip away with a sparkly souvenir.) He played shuffleboard on cruise ships and battled captains for the right to smoke in peace. He complained that his wife and daughter made him shave and change his shirt every day.
The great American writer fought off numerous illnesses and travel nuisances to circle the globe and earn a huge payday and a tidal wave of applause. Word of his success, however, traveled slowly enough that one American newspaper reported that he had died penniless in London. That's when he famously quipped: "The report of my death was an exaggeration."
Throughout his quest, Twain was aided by cutthroat Standard Oil tycoon H.H. Rogers, with whom he had struck a deep friendship, and he was hindered by his own lawyer (and future secretary of state) Bainbridge Colby, whom he deemed "head idiot of this century."
In Chasing the Last Laugh, author Richard Zacks, drawing extensively on unpublished material in notebooks and letters from Berkeley's ongoing Mark Twain Project, chronicles a poignant chapter in the author's life--one that began in foolishness and bad choices but culminated in humor, hard-won wisdom, and ultimate triumph.

Details

  • Title Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-The-World Comedy Tour
  • Author Richard Zacks
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 464
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Doubleday Books, NEW YORK
  • Publication date 2016-04
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780385536448 / 0385536445
  • Weight 1.7 lbs (0.77 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.5 in (24.13 x 16.26 x 3.81 cm)
  • Category Biography / Autobiography
  • Library of Congress subjects Authors, American - 19th century, American wit and humor - History and
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2015036843
  • Dewey Decimal Code B

About the author

Richard Zacks is the bestselling author of Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York; Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805; Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd; History Laid Bare; and An Underground Education. His writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, and many other publications. He attended the University of Michigan and the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. Born in Savannah, Georgia, he now lives in New York City.

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Chasing the Last Laugh : Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-The-World Comedy Tour
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Chasing the Last Laugh : Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-The-World Comedy Tour

by Zacks, Richard

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Chasing the Last Laugh : Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-The-World Comedy Tour
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Chasing the Last Laugh : Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-The-World Comedy Tour

by Zacks, Richard

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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Used - Good. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
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Chasing the Last Laugh : Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour

Chasing the Last Laugh : Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour

by Richard Zacks

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Chasing the Last Laugh : Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour

Chasing the Last Laugh : Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour

by Richard Zacks

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Chasing the Last Laugh : Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour

Chasing the Last Laugh : Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour

by Richard Zacks

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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2016. Hardcover. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour
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Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour

by Zacks, Richard

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Doubleday, 2016-04-19. First Edition. hardcover. Used: Good. 6.25x1.75x9.50. Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.
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Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour

Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour

by Richard Zacks

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New York London: Doubleday, 2016. First Edition First Printing Stated . Hard Back. Fine/No Dust Jacket. 6 1/2" X 9 1/2. 450 Pages Indexed. Brand New gift quality condition 2016 First Edition First Printing. Tan boards with ivory quarter-spine and brown lettering. Mark Twain, the highest-paid writer in America in 1894, was also one of the nation's worst investors. There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate, he wrote. When he can't afford it and when he can. The publishing company Twain owned was failing; his investment in a typesetting device was bleeding red ink. After losing hundreds of thousands of dollars back when a beer cost a nickel, he found himself neck-deep in debt. His heiress wife, Livy, took the setback hard and she wrote I cannot get away from the feeling that business failure means disgrace. But Twain vowed to Livy he would pay back every penny. And so at age 59 Twain forced himself to embark on a round-the-world stand-up comedy tour. No author had ever done that.… Read more
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by Zacks, Richard

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CHASING THE LAST LAUGH; MARK TWAIN'S RAUCOUS AND REDEMPTIVE ROUND-THE-WORLD COMEDY TOUR

CHASING THE LAST LAUGH; MARK TWAIN'S RAUCOUS AND REDEMPTIVE ROUND-THE-WORLD COMEDY TOUR

by Zacks, Richard

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New York: Doubleday, 2016. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. As new/as new. NY: Doubleday, c2016. first printing. 450pp., index, bibliography, notes, black and white illustrations. 8vo. As new hardcover in as new d/j.
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Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour
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Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour

by Zacks, Richard

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