Mark Twain's Basic Political Concepts:
Men, Parties, Democracy
J. HAROLD SMITH*
A study of the paradoxical political views of Mark Twain, who
lived and wrote during an era of rapid change, reveals much that
may interest and challenge citizens of the Space Age. So immersed
was Twain in the throbbing centers of the expansive movements of
his day—mining adventures of the Far West, commercial develop-
*J. Harold Smith, Ph.D., used Mark Twain as the subject of his doctoral dissertation in
English at the University of Wisconsin. He has taught in high schools, colleges and universities
in Kansas, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan, and is currently associate professor at Central
Michigan University, Mount Pleasant.
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