He was Sam Clemens, steamboat pilot, before he was Mark Twain, famous author. His better-known name originated with the lingo of navigation, and much of his writing was informed by his shipboard adventures on one of the world's great rivers. In this book, Twain offered recollections ranging from his salad days as a novice pilot to views from the passenger decks in the twilight of the river culture's heyday. Under the tutelage of the most celebrated...

She is a self-centered woman from a privileged family. He is a preacher with a sense of duty to love the unlovable. She is determined to solve a family mystery. He is on a mission to reach the rejects of society in the remote regions of Montana. On a steamboat journey up the Missouri River, Miss Fannie Rousseau and Reverend Samuel Beck find themselves opposite in every way ... except in wondering if their paths will ever cross again.

From the Publisher: A gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism. Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington's presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation's largest fleet of steamships to lord of a railroad...