Michael Shelden

Praise for Man in White

**"The definitive work on this controversial period. . . . Shelden's engagingly written, admirably balanced and thoroughly documented biography is as convincing as it is entertaining."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

**"Delightful, rousing. . . . A fascinating study in celebrity. . . . The late Twain in this biography emerges as engaged, lively, human, and always very funny." John Barron, publisher, Chicago Sun-Times

**"The reader will enjoy spending time with [Shelden's] version of the septuagenarian, still quipping in top form."---Washington Post

**"Superb biography . . . . Every reader will be grateful that, finally, Mark Twain appears before us, warts and all. Highly recommended."--starred review, Library Journal

**"A lively . . . and surprise-filled portrait of Twain."--New York Times

**"Spectacular fun. . . . [A] persuasive and enjoyable narrative, keeping its focus on a man of staggering wit and energy."--San Diego Union-Tribune

**"Shelden's stellar portrait of the man in white [is] both fascinating and persuasive."--Financial Times

**"[Shelden] ushers his irrepressible, brilliant, complicated subject onto center stage and Twain becomes as compelling a main character as in a well-developed novel."--Christian Science Monitor

**"Here is a well-researched book for all Twainiacs as well as those coming to the subject's late years for the first time."--featured review, Publishers Weekly

**"Vivid and immersive and enormously readable, Man in White seems to me the liveliest and best work of Twain biography in recent memory."

—Jon Clinch, author of Finn

**"A genuine breakthrough in Mark Twain biography. Entirely revises our thinking about Twain's final years, and does so in eloquent, moving prose that brings every scene into vivid focus."--Prof. Alan Gribben, annual reviewer, American Literary Scholarship

**"Impressive scholarship delivers the authentic accents of a truly American voice."
--starred review, Booklist

**"Delightful. . . . A wealth of wonderful stories. . . . Shelden is precisely the sort of biographer that Twain would have liked: diligent and deferential and willing to mute his own voice so that Twain's can be better heard."--Commentary Magazine

**"Shelden's account of Twain's Gotterdammerung gives us the man who put on a white suit long before Tom Wolfe, in all his twilight glory. Good stuff."--Christopher Buckley, author of Thank You for Smoking and Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir

**"Shelden makes good on his claim that Twain was often 'more alive' at the end of his life than at any other time. . . . The greatest strength of this book is that it makes Twain feel contemporary, with wonderful quips along the way."--San Francisco Chronicle

**"Man in White deftly outlines the conflict, during Twain's last years, between the adored public figure and the burdened, frequently bitter private man."--Wall Street Journal

**"Vividly and masterfully told. . . . Opens an entertaining window into the people, places, and events of an age."--Washington Times

**"Twain's last years . . . were eventful, filled with joy--and sorrow--and plenty of laughter. Shelden's readable, always engaging, and often moving narrative captures all of it."--Providence Journal

**"Marvelous, haunting. . . . A powerful evocation of a man full of vigor, charm, charisma, and above all humor, even in the midst of life's storms and earthquakes. Shelden weaves it all together masterfully with detective-like curiosity."--Prof Harold K. Bush, author of Mark Twain and the Spiritual Crisis of His Age

**"An entertaining, well-researched tale." --St. Louis Post-Dispatch

**"Full of humor and charm . . . . A fresh look at a beloved American author."--West End Word, St. Louis

**"Shelden . . . lays out his case in a narrative that is hard to put down, exploring both the pains and the pleasures of Twain's last years. . . . [and] establishing a refreshing and long over-due balance in how we see those years. Besides several photographs that will be new to even the most devoted Twainians, readers will discover new
insights . . . shimmering with new details."--Mark Twain Forum

**"Shelden uses unpublished sources, including Twain's journals and letters, to document the iconic author's later years."--USA Today

**"Michael Shelden's excellent Mark Twain: Man in White provides a fresh look into Twain's twilight years."--Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune

**"Revisionist . . . . Riveting."--Kirkus Reviews