Samuel L. Clemens or Mark Twain as he is more commonly known as is one of the greatest American authors of all time. He was called "the father of American literature" by William Faulkner. His two most famous books are "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". In addition to his famous books Clemens was a journalist and wrote several travel logs that are entertaining and enlightening to this day. He is also known for his political views and he used his cutting wit to voice his at the time controversial views. His views would fit right in with the liberal left today on topics such as racism, women's rights, workers' rights, and his criticism of organized religion.

Samuel Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri on November 30th 1835 to John and Jane Clemens. Much of his early childhood was spent in Hannibal Missouri along the Mississippi river. He later used Hannibal as the fictional St. Petersburg where he set the well known "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". When he was eleven his father John died of pneumonia and he became apprenticed to a printer. By 1851 Twain had begun work as a typesetter at his older brother Orion's newspaper "The Hannibal Journal".

While type setting Clemens would contribute articles and humorous sketches to this newspaper. In those days Missouri was a slave state; he had many opportunities to observe the cruelty and injustice first hand. In the evenings after work Mark Twain would go to the library where he obtained much of his education.

In 1859, after studying more than 2,000 miles of the Mississippi River, Samuel Clemens received his steamboat pilot’s license. He worked as a steamboat pilot until 1861 when the civil war disrupted steamboat traffic. Twain joined the confederate army for roughly two weeks, at which point he moved west to Nevada with his older brother Orion. He was appointed clerk of the territorial legislature.

Clemens’ time in the West gave him many interesting experiences that he detailed for various magazines nationwide. Some of his most famous works to come out of this time were "Roughing it", and "The Celebrated Frog of Calveras County". While working for a newspaper called “Territorial Enterprise” he assumed the name Mark Twain for the first time.

After Samuel Clemens’ time in Nevada he moved to San Francisco, California. During the Year 1867 he was hired to travel by steamship to Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. His travel logs had become very popular at this time and he was expected to provide humorous portrayals of his experiences abroad. This trip was eventually to become his popular book “Innocents Abroad”. He made many friends on this trip one of whom was his future brother-in-law Charles Langdon. Mark Twain was soon married to Charles' sister Olivia who came from a wealthy liberal family in Elmira, New York.

In 1871 Samuel Clemens, his wife, and his growing family moved to Hartford, Connecticut. While living there they had 3 children and he wrote many of his most famous books. These include “the Prince and the Pauper”, “Life on the Mississippi”, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".

Mark Twain used the medium of his story telling to convey messages about slavery, human rights and religious freedom. The character Jim in “Huckleberry Finn” is an example of how he tried to humanize slaves and show them for what they truly are; people with hopes, dreams and families just like the readers of the book. The premise of this book is that the slave Jim is going to be sold away from his family to another owner. Jim runs away so he can earn the money to buy his family and keep them all together. The young outcast Huckleberry Finn runs away with him to escape his drunken father. Together they have many adventures while rafting down the Mississippi River. While the reader is enjoying the adventure he/she is also getting to know a slave as a real and compassionate human being.

Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, was a very talented author whose works are still relevant in society over 125 years after they were written. Be it his comic portrayals of human nature, or his vivid pictures of the wrongs of slavery, Mark Twain had the knack to capture the hearts and minds of readers throughout the centuries. It would be interesting to read his commentary on the state of the world if he were alive today. He would probably write in a style similar to Bill Bryson for a website like the Onion.