Julie Bosman’s review on November 19, 2010, in "The New York Times" said the book is a four-pound, 500,000-word, $35.00 doorstopper more political than Twain’s previous works. The content is nonlinear although very readable. It seems like a reader could flip the book open at random to any part of it and not worry about plot. The book includes 200 pages of end notes. At first the publisher planned to print 7,500 copies. However, because it was being published a century after Twain’s death, as he wanted it to be, the book got in the news. Before the book’s November 15th publication date, magazines including "Newsweek", "Playboy," and "Harper’s" ran excerpts from the book. The book was quickly sold out and back-ordered. The publisher was University of California Press. A girl with them said, “We feel like, wow . . . people are interested in a 736-page scholarly tome about Mark Twain.” They rushed to send copies to bookstores in time for the holidays. The publisher hired a small printer in Michigan to print the books. They worked overtime producing 30,000 copies a week and got bigger trucks to bring the books to the warehouses. Instead of 7,500 copies, the book got on best seller lists with over 275,000 copies in November 2010. The book was the biggest success the University of California Press had in sixty years.
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner (born June 19, 1954) is an American actress. She became famous during the 1980s with Hollywood movies including: "Body Heat", "Romancing the Stone" and "Peggy Sue Got Married". Turner has starred in many television programs and theatrical movies. She was born in Springfield, Missouri. She is a Democrat.
Jewel (singer)
Jewel Kilcher (born May 23, 1974), known simply as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter. She has had four Grammy Award nominations. Jewel was born in Payson, Utah, but raised in Anchorage, Alaska.
Lynton and Barnstaple Railway
The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway (L&B) is a Heritage railway in North Devon, England.
The original line opened in May 1898, but closed in 1935. It was a single track narrow gauge railway just over 19 miles (30 km) long, running through rugged rural countryside in Exmoor National Park
For a few years the line earned a small profit, but for most of its life the L&B lost money. The L&B was taken over by the Southern Railway in 1923, and finally closed in September 1935.
The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Association was created in 1979. A short section of the line opened again in 2004. This was extended in 2006 and a year later, plans were announced to open nine miles (14 km) of track, linking the station at Woody Bay to both Lynton and Blackmoor Gate, and eventually to a new station at Wistlandpound Reservoir.
Several plans were put forward to extend railways from Barnstaple to Lynton. Because of the hills and valleys which would need tight curves and steep slopes, one scheme suggested a gauge of , already being used on other lines like the Ffestiniog Railway, to make building the line easier. This plan was supported by Sir George Newnes who became chairman of the company. The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Bill was passed on 27 June 1895, and the line was officially opened on 11 May 1898. Public services started on 16 May.
The L&B did not attract enough passengers to make a profit. The journey of nearly twenty miles normally took about one and a half hours. To make things worse, to satisfy several powerful local people, Lynton station was built quite a long way from the town itself, and from the cliff railway to Lynmouth.
Falling traffic during World War I, better roads, and more people owning cars cut the line's income even more, until it was no longer economic.
Despite many cost-saving changes, and extra money being spent on the line, the Southern Railway was still unable to make money, so they closed the line.
The last train ran on 29 September 1935. The Southern Railway removed everything they could use on other lines, and by 8 November, they had lifted the track from Lynton to the Barnstaple side of Woody Bay station. On 13 November a sale was held, but the railway did not attract much interest. Most of the carriages and wagons, and every engine apart from "Lew", were scrapped at Pilton. Some carriages were cut up and used as garden sheds. Third class seats became garden furniture, and first class seats were used in local public halls. In December, Sidney Castle got the job of taking the rest of the railway apart. The remaining track was lifted by June 1936, and in September, "Lew" was shipped to South America - probably Brazil. The stations and track bed were sold in 1938.
The L&B had a very good safety record, and no members of the public were killed or injured, although accidents at Braunton Road and Chumhill did take the lives of three workers.
The L&B rises and falls several times along its length. Starting at above sea level, The first , through Barnstaple, and along the Yeo Valley stays nearly level. "Collard Bridge" marks the start of an climb, mainly at one in fifty (2%), to Blackmoor Gate. A slight down-gradient follows, about m long, towards Parracombe Bank, and the start of another climb, about , to Woody Bay – at , the highest railway station in southern England. The line then falls, again mostly at one in fifty - to Lynton & Lynmouth station, still above the sea, and hidden by the landscape from the town of Lynton. The minimum radius on curves was .
One of the most obvious features of the L&B was its rail vehicles, with the engines appearing first in a plain lined Holly green colour, later on a black base, with chestnut under-frames, pulling passenger carriages coloured terra-cotta with cream upper panels, and light grey goods wagons. The painting was simplified as each vehicle was repainted. With the take-over by the Southern Railway and arrival of Lew, the paint scheme was slowly changed to a lighter green with yellow lettering for the engines and passenger carriages, and brown for the goods wagons. The engine headlamps which had been black were re-painted red.
At least three builders' engines were used for building the line. Unusually, some of the temporary track was wider than the final gauge - the section around Parracombe Bank for example, crossing the Heddon valley, was built to gauge, with an engine known as "Winnie". A fifth engine - perhaps named "Spondon" - may also have been used, although little is known of either of these. In 1900, "Kilmarnock" was sold by the L&B. It is thought that it was left behind by James Nuttall, because of the financial problems and legalcase between the railway and the builder.
The L&B used only coal-fired steam engines. The railway ordered three 2-6-2Ts from Manning Wardle & Co of Leeds. The engines were named after local rivers: "Yeo", "Exe", and "Taw". These were supplemented by a 2-4-2T, "Lyn", built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, USA, as the company realised that three engines would not be enough. Baldwin was chosen as they could deliver the engine – built mainly from standard parts – more quickly than British builders, who had a backlog of orders, caused by a national engineering dispute from July 1897 to January 1898. After it was built by Baldwin, the engine was shipped across the Atlantic in parts, and re-assembled at Pilton by railway staff. It first steamed in July 1898. The Manning Wardles were delivered before the dispute, and "Yeo" and "Taw" were used to help build the line.
In 1923 the L&B became part of the Southern Railway, and began an upgrade programme. All stock was repainted in Southern Maunsell livery, and track and buildings were improved. A fifth engine, "Lew" was bought in 1925, with a few improvements to the original Manning Wardle design.