Nowadays, famous feuds are so common, the word "frienemy" has carved out a place in modern language. However, such rivalries have been prevalent for over a century...they were just better at hiding it back then.
Much of what we know of today's America grew out of events that occurred during the two decades around 1900. At the time, only two celebrated figures rivaled each other in the love of their countrymen: Mark Twain and Theodore Roosevelt. President Roosevelt dominated the politics of the era the way the author of Huckleberry Finn dominated its culture.
As national celebrities, Roosevelt and Mark Twain were well acquainted, and neither spoke ill of the other in public. Yet Philip McFarland, author of five works of non-fiction, reveals a behind-closed-doors rivalry in his new book, MARK TWAIN AND THE COLONEL: Samuel L. Clemens, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Arrival of a New Century (July 16, 2012, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers). The book chronicles in-depth a relationship so prickly that it led Roosevelt privately to comment that he "would like to skin Mark Twain alive" and the humorist to assert that Roosevelt was "far and away the worst President we have ever had."
Focusing on the issues from which modern society has emerged and framed within those clamorous and influential decades in American history, McFarland fuels the tension and develops the many lively personalities who appear in MARK TWAIN AND THE COLONEL.
About the Author
Philip McFarland is the author of five works of nonfiction: Sojourners, Sea Dangers: The Affair of the Somers, The Brave Bostonians: Hutchinson, Quincy, Franklin, and the Coming of the American Revolution, Hawthorne in Concord, and Loves of Harriet Beecher Stowe. He has also published two works of fiction.
My Take on the Book
As someone who has always loved history, this book is a treasure trove of great information. This book serves as a biography of both of these very interesting and well known men. The author has done an amazing job at exploring both men and also setting the tone of the early century, allowing the reader to gain an in-depth perspective of the challenges of the day. The book has is ups and downs in regards to flow and readability as in some parts I found that the amount of detail that you got lost in the text. That being said, the book was still a powerful one and for anyone who likes these men, or who would like to gain a deeper knowledge of America around the turn of the 20th century, look no further!
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