William Dean Howells's warm, intimate portrait of Mark Twain begins with their first meeting in Boston and grows into a lifelong friendship marked by laughter, admiration, and repeated visits in Hartford and New York. Twain emerges as a dazzling presence: theatrically dressed, mischievous, endlessly talkative, and yet rooted in a boyish originality that made his humor feel inseparable from deeper wisdom. Howells moves through literary gatherings with Fields, Aldrich, Bret Harte, and Ralph ...

The Marches, married twenty-five years, take the European tour they could not afford as newlyweds — the ship, the Rhine, Carlsbad, a young couple in trouble whom they cannot help minding about. Howells edited The Atlantic and wrote for Harper's, and was the most powerful literary broker in America; here he does middle age exactly, and the kindness of the book is not softness.

An Ohio family — a judge, his wife, and a daughter recovering from an unsuitable attachment — is taken to Europe to get over it, and the Atlantic and the Dutch canals do not much help. Howells edited The Atlantic and was the most powerful literary broker in America; this 1902 novel is his quiet study of ordinary decent people being wrong about their own children, and the father is beautifully done.

A middle-aged American in Florence, comfortable and finished with life, is courted by a girl of twenty and by her chaperone, who is his own age — and behaves badly, then better, then badly again. Howells edited The Atlantic and was the most powerful literary broker in America; this 1886 novel is his lightest and his best, and the humiliation of a man discovering he is not young is done with no cruelty at all.

Deans treatise, History of the Otttoman Empire, chronicles 600 years of the empire from 1250 to 1850, including the Siege of Constantinople, the Battle of Lepanto, the Siege of Vienna, the war with Russia, and Greeces independence. A table of contents is included for easy navigation.

Deans History of the Ottoman Empire is a fascinating chronicle of Ottoman Empire from the 13th to the mid 19th centuries.

Bartley Hubbard, a sharp-eyed Boston journalist, arrives to profile Silas Lapham for a series on "solid men," and the interview quickly becomes a vivid portrait of American self-making. Lapham, prosperous, plainspoken, and proud, recounts his Vermont boyhood, his mother's exhausting labor, and the hard-won path that took him from sawmills and stage driving to a hotel, a marriage to the schoolteacher Persis, and finally a business fortune. At the center of his rise is the accidental discove...

A Vermont girl of no family is taken up by a rich woman as a companion and carried to Italy — where the arrangement, and everyone's exact idea of what she is owed, comes apart. Howells edited The Atlantic and was the most powerful literary broker in America; this 1899 novel is his quietest anatomy of patronage, and the girl's refusal to be grateful on cue is the whole book.

A self-made paint millionaire from Vermont builds a house on the water side of Beacon Street and discovers that Boston's old families will accept his money and not his daughters. Howells edited The Atlantic and was the most powerful literary man in America; he made his hero's crisis a matter of business ethics rather than romance, which nobody had thought to do.

Throughout the long centuries of human history is the want, and the need, to share information, to exchange ideas and for that knowledge and experience, for curiosity and learning, to be the basis of a civil society.In literature the ambition is much narrower. In order to be known, to be popular, you had to be published. And for that people had to know you existed and your ideas worth reading. Obviously for most of humanity’s time people couldn’t read and texts couldn’t be publishe...

"Impressions and Experiences" by William Dean Howells is a reflective collection that delves into the author's thoughts and observations on various aspects of life, society, and literature. Through a series of essays, Howells shares his insights on the American literary scene, the nature of art, and the evolving cultural landscape of his time. His prose is characterized by a keen sense of observation and a deep appreciation for the nuances of human experience, making the work both engaging...

"The White Mr. Longfellow" is a reflective piece by William Dean Howells that delves into the life and character of the esteemed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Through Howells' lens, readers gain insight into Longfellow's literary contributions and his profound impact on American poetry. The essay captures the essence of Longfellow's gentle spirit and his ability to resonate with the human experience, showcasing how his works have transcended time and continue to inspire generations. How...