Overview

"In fall 1891, Mark Twain headed for Berlin, the ""newest city I have ever seen,"" as America's foremost humorist wrote; accompanied by his wife, Olivia, and their three daughters. Twain, a ""Yankee from head to toe,"" according to the Berlin press, conspired with diplomats, frequented the famed salons, had breakfast with duchesses, and dined with the emperor. He also suffered an ""organized dog-choir club,"" at his first address, which he deemed a ""rag-picker's paradise,"" picked a fight with the police, who made him look under his maid's petticoats, was abused by a porter, got lost on streetcars, was nearly struck down by pneumonia, and witnessed a proletarian uprising right in front of his hotel on Unter den Linden. Twain penned articles about his everyday life and also began a novel about lonely Prussian princess Wilhelmina von Preussen-unpublished until now, like many of his Berlin stories. These are assembled for the first time in this book, along with a riveting account of Twain's foray in the German capital, by Andreas Austilat. Berlinica Publishing LLC offers English-language books from Berlin, German; fiction, non-fiction, travel guides, history about the Wall and the Third Reich, Jewish life, art, architecture and photography, as well as travel guides and cookbook. It also offers documentaries and feature films on DVD, as well as music CDs. Berlinica caters to history buffs, Americans of German heritage, travelers, and artists and young people who love the cutting-edge city in the heart of Europe. Berlinica cooperates with Berlin-based publishing houses. Berlinica's current and upcoming titles include ""Our West Berlin,"" by various authors, also five translated books by famed Weimar author Kurt Tucholsky as well as Harold Poor's landmark biography of Tucholsky, two translated plays by Ernst Toller, and two American travel stories by Alfred Kerr and Roda Roda, soon to be followed by Egon Erwin Kisch's ""Paradise America"". In the non-fiction department, we have ""Rocking the Wall,"" the Bruce-Springsteen-book and ""Burning Beethoven,"" about German Americans in World War I, both by Erik Kirschbaum, also ""Mark Twain in Berlin,"" by Andreas Austilat, ""Berlin 1945: World War II: Photos of the Aftermath,"" by Michael Brettin, ""The Berlin Wall Today,"" a full-color guide to the remnants of the Wall, by Michael Cramer, ""Berlin in the Cold War,"" about post-World War II history, the comprehensive guide ""Jews in Berlin,"" by Andreas Nachama, Julius Schoeps, Hermann Simon, and ""A Place they Called Home,"" edited by Donna Swarthout about Jews returning to Germany. We also offer ""The Berlin Cookbook,"" a full-color collection of traditional German recipes by Rose Marie Donhauser, the picture book ""Wings of Desire,"" by Lothar Heinke, ""Martin Luther's Travel Guide,"" by Cornelia D�mer, ""Leipzig! The City of Books und Music,"" by Sebastian Ringel, and ""Berlin For Free,"" a guide for the frugal traveler by Monica Maertens."

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9783960260691

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Reviews

"This fascinating book is a must-read for any Twain enthusiast"" - Andy Borowitz Andreas Austilat, a twenty-six year veteran newspaperman for Berlin's largest daily paper, knows his city and is clearly a devoted Twainian. - Kevin Mac Donnell, The Mark Twain Forum The new book includes a story that Twain started in Berlin but never finished, a snarky essay about his Berlin apartment, and a few other never-before-published Twain writings. - The Hartford Courant"

Author Information

"Andreas Austilat is the deputy editor of the Sunday supplement of Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin's leading daily, where he has worked since 1987. He interviewed many celebrities-such as Rosanne Cash (daughter of Johnny Cash), architect David Chipperfield, fashion designer Tommy Hilfinger, as well as authors Ian Kershaw and Kathy Reichs-, and also the last survivors of the gigantic airship ""Hindenburg,"" which crashed in 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, after its transatlantic journey. He also discovered the lost copies of the oldest existing Titanic movie filmed in 1912, the year of the Titanic disaster; it was hidden in a Berlin archive. He published three travel and culture guides about Brandenburg and a history book about Zehlendorf, an affluent Berlin suburb. Austilat was born in Berlin, where he lives with his wife, his two children-a boy and a girl-and their dog Duffy. He studied history at the Free University and at first wanted to become a teacher, but decided switch to journalism early on. Lewis H. Lapham, born 1935, is an American writer. He was the editor of the American monthly Harper's Magazine from 1976 until 1981, and from 1983 until 2006. He is also the founder of Lapham's Quarterly, and has written more than a dozen books on politics and current affairs. His writing has appeared in The American Conservative, Life, Commentary, Vanity Fair, National Review, Yale Literary Magazine, ELLE, Fortune, Forbes, American Spectator, The New York Times, The Walrus, Maclean's, The Observer (London), and the Wall Street Journal. Lapham also served as a judge for the PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award. In addition, Lapham is the host and author of the PBS series, America's Century as well as the host of The World in Time: radio discussions with scholars and historians on Bloomberg Radio. He is also on the Board of Trustees of the Advisory Council of the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut. Mark Twain was America's foremost novelist, journalist, and satirist who has been hailed as the ""father of American literature. And he was also an accomplished travel writer. Born in Missouri in 1835 as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, he spent his early years as a Mississippi River pilot and as a prospector in Nevada before he settled in California. He wrote his first travel book, ""The Innocents Abroad,"" after an 1867 trip to Palestine. After his second trip to Europe, which took him (and his family) to Germany for the first time, he wrote ""A Tramp Abroad."" His third trip abroad brought the family to Berlin, from October 1891 to March 1892, first in a tenement in the district of Tiergarten, later in a posh hotel Unter den Linden. Twain was invited to Berlin salons and socialized with Prussian royalty, including the Kaiser. However, he suffered from rheumatism, so he never wrote a book about Berlin, even though he pondered many ideas. He did write a number of shorter pieces, as well as the first chapter of a novel, most of it unpublished up to today. He also met one of his future friends in Berlin, Rudolf Lindau, a well-traveled novelist and Bismarck's press secretary. Eventually, the family would move to Vienna and Italy. Twain embarked on a world tour to pay off his debts. He returned to upstate New York in 1900, where he died ten years later."

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