Lighting Out for the Territory: Reflections on Mark Twain and American Culture

Mark Twain once jotted in his notebook, "No, I am not an American, I am the American." He may have been joking or perhaps just thinking on the page, but he was close to the truth: he is everywhere in American society.

Shelley Fisher Fishkin, editor of the 29-volume Oxford Mark Twain, has written an engaging travel book based on her rambles, both literal and intellectual, through the vast realm of Twain. From children in Hannibal, Missouri, performing a Tom Sawyer pageant to horribly mistaken intellectuals railing against Huckleberry Finn, Fishkin has ranged far and wide, searching for what Twain means today.

Lighting Out for the Territory tackles such serious intellectual issues as the perpetual accusation that Twain was a racist. It also provides entertaining digressions into Twain's appearances in pop culture, ranging from beer ads to an appearance on Star Trek.