I'd recommend Michael Shelden's *Mark Twain: Man in White; The Grand
Adventure of His Final Years*, in conjunction with Ron Powers' great
one-volume biography.  Shelden's book is a great complement to Powers' bio,
in my opinion, because (1) the last decade of Twain's life is the weakest
part of Powers's book and (2) Shelden's very well-researched book provides
a detailed look at this period of Twain's life, when he was an
international celebrity, and a much different picture of Twain in this
period than depicted in prior scholarship, e.g., Hamlin Hill's *Mark Twain:
God's Fool.*
Martin Zehr

On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Tim Esh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Sorry for spamming your inboxs, but perhaps the third time (from my other
> email account) is the trick.
>
> I=E2=80=99m designing an advanced undergraduate seminar on Mark Twain. I
> wa=
> nt to
> include a critical biography, and after some research, I am currently
> considering assigning the 2005 Ron Powers biography _Mark Twain: A Life_.
> I=E2=80=99m curious what biographies others recommend (and perhaps why).
> Thanks,
> Tim
>
> P.S. Oddly, my messages made it onto the form archives without
> transmogrification into gibberish. <
> https://listserv.yorku.ca/cgi-bin/wa?A2=3Dind1611&L=3Dtwain-
> l&T=3D0&P=3D724=
> 5>
>