Kudos to Kim Martin Long for her review of Susan Harris's excellent examination of the relationship between Sam and Olivia Langdon. I must confess I felt total sympathy with Ms. Long beginning with her first paragraph, as her sentiments on the book's title were nearly word-for-word what I told Susan at the Elmira conference. If memory serves, Susan told me the title was chosen by the publishers, not her. At any rate, I think Susan's book is the best secondary source contribution to Twain scholarship this year. for the record, here's my short review of the same book for _Choice_ magazine which underlines what Kim said: Susan Harris, The Courtship of MT & Olivia . . . Choice, submitted May 1997. Recently, along with fellow Twain scholar Laura Skandara- Trombley, Susan Harris's work has emphasized the importance of women in Mark Twain's life. This volume focuses on Twain's wife, Olivia Langdon Clemens, and, while other books have elevated Langdon from the deprecating myths of earlier biographies, Harris, for the first time, pulls together the threads that interwove the lives of two intellectually-similar minds. But Harris's title does not fully indicate the breadth of her contribution to Twain studies. All readers will benefit from Harris's chronicle of two lovers as well as the lengthy discussions of the scientific, philosophic, religious, and literary milieus that shaped two widely dissimilar backgrounds. Further, all readers will learn needed corrections to Mark Twain's biography. Of particular note is Harris's carefully researched chapters on the education of Langdon and her contemporaries in a lively intellectual atmosphere vastly different from her husband's frontier development. Harris is also especially credible and helpful in her analysis of Mark Twain's courtship techniques. This is a volume scholars can rely on while general readers will appreciate the readability, flow, and infrequent interruptions in the text of citations and notes. Wes Britton (who wishes he too were teaching at Shippensburg)