It’s written in an easy-going, often humorous style that wears its learning lightly, often going for puns that might have made even Mark Twain groan: about Lew Wallace, the Civil War general and one-hit literary wonder who wrote Ben Hur, Powers says that his “entire literary career could be summed up as ‘Ben Hur, done that’…” Powers has a deep appreciation of Twain’s work, but doesn’t shy away from presenting an honest portrait of a man who could be selfish, mean, insecure, grumpy and vengeful. Twain was all of those things, but he was also brilliant, humane, and howlingly funny. Powers’ biography is a great read.