No matter whether anguishing more than American military interventions overseas or delivering jabs at Wall Street tycoons, this Twain is strikingly contemporary. Although the autobiography also contains its share of homespun tales, some of its observations about American existence are so acerbic - at one stage Twain refers to American soldiers as “uniformed assassins” - that his heirs and editors, as properly as the writer himself, feared they would injury his reputation if not withheld. “From the initial, second, third and fourth editions all audio and sane expressions of opinion must be left out,” Twain instructed them in 1906. “There may possibly be a industry for that type of wares a century from now. There is no hurry. Wait and see.” My websites: profim--