Twain and me woulda gotta along real good.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens. "Mark Twain" as he become to be known as. Author of such masterpieces as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, among others, died 99 years this week. If you've never read at least the first two, you're depriving yourself of two of the most important books in American literature. No question. No argument.

Ernest Hemmingway argued that "all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called 'Huckleberry Finn' ". A new book, "Who is Mark Twain?", has just been released, containing 24 previously uncollected stories and essays.

Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are Twain's quintessential books, capturing the carefree days of youth, while addressing and masticating over important issues like racial equality and women's rights - issues Twain was passionate about - with a profound sense of humor that Twain had become known for.

As far as government, Twain's celebrity overshadowed his views on such matters. But historians agree Twain was an anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist in his later years, while being critical of too much government.

"The mania for giving the Government power to meddle with the private affairs of cities or citizens is likely to cause endless trouble, through the rivalry of schools and creeds that are anxious to obtain official recognition, and there is great danger that our people will lose our independence of thought and action which is the cause of much of our greatness, and sink into the helplessness of the Frenchman or German who expects his government to feed him when hungry, clothe him when naked, to prescribe when his child may be born and when he may die, and, in fine, to regulate every act of humanity from the cradle to the tomb, including the manner in which he may seek future admission to paradise." - "Official Physic"

"Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it."
- Twain