November 30, 1835 Samual Langhorne Clemens born in Florida, Missouri
1839 family moves to Hannibal
1947 father dies, March 24, family left with little money
1848 printer's apprentice
1853-57 printer in St.Louis, Phil. NY, Keokuk & Cincy
1857-61 on the river, "cub" pilot to Horace Bixby
April 9, 1859 license as riverboat pilot
1861 two weeks with Confederate Marion Rangers (Civil War)
1861-66 in the West, timber claims, silver mining, reporter
1865 "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
1866-69 roving correspondent, travel writing
1869 The Innocents Abroad
1870 marries Easterner, Olivia Langdon, begins lecturing
father-in-law loans him money, partner in Buff. Express
1871 moves to the Hartford, Conn area
1872 Roughing It
1873 The Guilded Age
1875 "Old Times on the Mississippi" in Atlantic Monthly
1876 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
1880 A Tramp Abroad
1882 The Prince and the Pauper
1883 Life on the Mississippi (book)
1885 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1889 Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
1892 Extracts from Adam's Diary
1894 Pudd'nhead Wilson
1895-96 Lecture trip around world to help repay creditors
1896 Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
1896 daughter Susy dies of meningitis
1897 Following the Equator
1900 The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories
1901-02 honorary degrees from Yale and Univ of Missouri
1904 wife Olivia dies, June 5
1904 "The War Prayer"
1905 Extracts from Eve's Diary
1906 What is Man, published anonymously
1907 honorary degree from Oxford, England
1907-08 Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven
1908 move to Stormfield, in Redding, Connecticut
1909 daughter Clara marries
1909 daughter Jean dies, December 23
1910 Twain dies, April 21, buried at Elmira, New York
1962 Letters from the Earth first published in full (with "The Damned Human Race")
Overall style, technique, school of literature:
Twain is considered a literary realist, a satirist, a frontier humorist, a travel writer, and a commentator on the human race. He is most famous for his Mississippi River novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi and Pudd'nhead Wilson. His travel writing were also very popular with the public during his lifetime. His later works took on a darker, satirical aspect as he questioned human values, morals, and attitudes overall.