Mark Twain (1835¿1910) was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri, and drew on a boyhood spent on the Mississippi and brief careers as a journalist, river boat pilot, and prospector for material for his works, many of which are considered classics of American literature, including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.¿Editor and Twain scholar John Cooley is a professor of English at Western Michigan University. His books include Mark Twain's Aquarium: The Samuel Clemens Angelfish Correspondence, 1905-1910 and Earthly Words: Essays on Contemporary American Nature and Environmental Writers.