Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour
Language: English
Published by Doubleday, 2016
- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: The Maryland Book Bank, Baltimore, MD, U.S.A.The Maryland Book Bank
AbeBooks seller since September 1, 2010
Condition: Used - Very good
£ 2.76
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Used - Very Good.
Seller Inventory # 14-T-4-0179
- Title
- Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour
- Author
- Zacks, Richard
- Publisher
- Doubleday
- Publication year
- 2016
- Condition
- Very Good
- Dust jacket
- Dust Jacket Included
- Binding
- hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0385536445
- ISBN 13
- 9780385536448
- Edition
- First Edition.
Mark Twain, the highest-paid writer in America in 1894, was also one of the nation’s worst investors. “There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate,” he wrote. “When he can’t afford it and when he can.” The publishing company Twain owned was failing; his investment in a typesetting device was bleeding red ink. After losing hundreds of thousands of dollars back when a beer cost a nickel, he found himself neck-deep in debt. His heiress wife, Livy, took the setback hard. “I have a perfect horror and heart-sickness over it,” she wrote. “I cannot get away from the feeling that business failure means disgrace.”
But Twain vowed to Livy he would pay back every penny. And so, just when the fifty-nine-year-old, bushy-browed icon imagined that he would be settling into literary lionhood, telling jokes at gilded dinners, he forced himself to mount the “platform” again, embarking on a round-the-world stand-up comedy tour. No author had ever done that. He cherry-picked his best stories—such as stealing his first watermelon and buying a bucking bronco—and spun them into a ninety-minute performance.
Twain trekked across the American West and onward by ship to the faraway lands of Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, India, Ceylon, and South Africa. He rode an elephant twice and visited the Taj Mahal. He saw Zulus dancing and helped sort diamonds at the Kimberley mines. (He failed to slip away with a sparkly souvenir.) He played shuffleboard on cruise ships and battled captains for the right to smoke in peace. He complained that his wife and daughter made him shave and change his shirt every day.
The great American writer fought off numerous illnesses and travel nuisances to circle the globe and earn a huge payday and a tidal wave of applause. Word of his success, however, traveled slowly enough that one American newspaper reported that he had died penniless in London. That’s when he famously quipped: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
Throughout his quest, Twain was aided by cutthroat Standard Oil tycoon H.H. Rogers, with whom he had struck a deep friendship, and he was hindered by his own lawyer (and future secretary of state) Bainbridge Colby, whom he deemed “head idiot of this century.”
In Chasing the Last Laugh, author Richard Zacks, drawing extensively on unpublished material in notebooks and letters from Berkeley’s ongoing Mark Twain Project, chronicles a poignant chapter in the author’s life—one that began in foolishness and bad choices but culminated in humor, hard-won wisdom, and ultimate triumph.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
The Maryland Book Bank
Baltimore, MD, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since September 1, 2010
Shipping rates within U.S.A.
| Item | 5 to 11 business days | 5 to 14 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 3.51 | £ 11.22 |
Payment methods
Store description
The Maryland Book Bank is a non profit organization providing free children's books to families, schools and teachers all over the state. All revenue from the sale of our books goes into our children's programs.
Seller's business information
The Maryland Book Bank
501 N. Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD U.S.A. 21278
Terms of sale
We guarantee the condition of every book as it's described on the Abebooks web
sites. If you're dissatisfied with your purchase (Incorrect Book/Not as
Described/Damaged) or if the order hasn't arrived, you're eligible for a refund
within 30 days of the estimated delivery date. If you've changed your mind about
a book that you've ordered, please use the Ask bookseller a question link to
contact us and we'll respond within 2 business days.
The Maryland Book Bank
501 N. Calvert St
Baltimore, MD 21278
customerservice@marylandbookbank.org
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to The Maryland Book Bank, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.
Shipping terms
Shipping costs are based on books weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact you to let you know extra shipping is required.