Mark Twain's own favorite among his works, the product of a life-long obsession with the history of the Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc was a failure in terms of sales and has remained obscure and largely out of print for more than a century since its publication. It is, in reality, a much more lively book than its reputation would indicate, and no reader can claim to understand Twain's canon without having read this novel. The initial offering in the Litrix Library series (see also www.litrix.com).

An historical biography of fifteenth-century saint and national heroine of France, Joan of Arc, that relies on the letters and testimony given at her trial.

Compiled and translated by Willard Trask, with an historical afterword by Sir Edward Creasy.

Blending cultural history, biography, and literary criticism, this book explores how one of America's greatest icons used the French to help build a new sense of what it is to be “American” in the second half of the nineteenth century. While critics have generally dismissed Mark Twain’s relationship with France as hostile, Harrington and Jenn see Twain’s use of the French as a foil to help construct his identity as “the representative American.” Examining new materials that detail his Montmatre study, the carte de visite album, and a chronology of his visits to France, the book offers close readings of writings that have been largely ignored, such as The Innocents Adrift manuscript and the unpublished chapters of A Tramp Abroad, combining literary analysis, socio-historical context and biographical research.

This historical novel purportedly written by Joan's longtime friend -- Sieur Louis de Conte -- discloses Twain's unrestrained admiration for the French heroine's nobility of character.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835–1910), more commonly known under the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, lecturer, publisher and entrepreneur most famous for his novels “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (1876) and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1884). The last novel he ever wrote, Twain's “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc” is an 1896 historical novel that chronicles the life of Joan of Arc. A gripping and informative novel that will appeal to those with an interest in French history and the heroine Hundred Years' War in particular. Other notable works by this author include: “The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today” (1873), “A Tramp Abroad” (1880), and “The Prince and the Pauper” (1881). Read & Co. Classics is proudly republishing this fantastic novel now in a new edition complete with a specially-commissioned biography of the author.