The fifty-two selections in Essays and Sketches of Mark Twain recast the image of Twain the white-suited, wisecracking misanthrope. Here he is revealed as a man with a wide range of social and literary concerns. Though very much of his time, his observations are sometimes uncannily modern.

Twain was bemused, often confounded, by the human race. In "My Watch," he turns the act of resetting a watch into a fable about our propensity for never leaving well enough alone. In "Eve's Diary," he looks into the origins of human foible: no one has ever taken Eve's side quite so fully, nor has Adam, in any other context, made readers smile with such empathy.

"Is Shakespeare Dead?" constructs a spirited argument against the likelihood of Shakespeare'' authorship of the plays and offers at the same time a gloss on Twain'' own authorial authenticity. Amused by the British, Twain the world traveler is also exasperated by the French and admiring of the Germans, no matter how much he may rant about "The Awful German Language." Twain the educator is in top form in "How to Make History Dates Stick," where he concocts an ingenious-and interactive-way to make history come alive for his children.

Essays and Sketches of Mark Twain has eight sections that carry Twain forward thematically as well as chronologically, providing a portrait of the man that is cut of whole cloth.