Roughing It, 1872

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835–1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an esteemed American humorist, writer, and lecturer. A gifted social satirist, at the peak of his career he was probably the most well-known American around the world. His iconic characters Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are still among the most beloved in literature.

Mark Twain’s second major work, Roughing It (1872) records the author’s travels through the West in the 1860s. Among its most famous passages is this description of Twain’s adventures at Lake Tahoe, in the 1860s.

 

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Read by Daniel DeFoe, Professor of History, Sierra College