Her name is Laura Skandera-Trombley.  I, for one, have found Wes
Britton's posts on this subject particularly offensive, and the
encouragement given by others to his personal attacks,
blatant sexism, and repeated attempts to confine Twain studies to his
own vision of literary scholarship rather amazing.  I have
always found Twain scholars and fans of his work to be friendly
and relatively tolerant and supportive.  Most of the posts in this
thread have been far from that and are about the worst I've
ever seen in this forum.  W.D. Howells once wrote,

"I warn the reader that if he leaves out of the account an indignant
sense of right and wrong, a scorn of all affectation and pretence, an
ardent hate of meanness and injustice, he will come indefinitely
short of knowing Mark Twain."

Those who think that the mean-spirited attacks on Laura
Skandera-Trombley posted here are somehow the height of
Twain-inspired humor might do well to consider Howells's
interpretation.

Jim Zwick