RH Wins Twain-Grant Study
by John F. Baker -- Publishers Weekly, 1/7/2002
A literary biography that concentrates on the celebrated relationship between Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was won at auction, over bids from 10 other publishers, by senior editor Katie Hall at Random House. The book will be called, after one of Twain's most famous works, Sam and Huck, and the author is Mark Perry, author of Lift Up Thy Voice. Hall bought world rights from agent Gail Ross and looks to get the manuscript next year. Perry will examine the literary influences of each man upon the other, and will also use the tale of their relationship to look at such issues of the time as slavery, racism and the aftermath of the Civil War. Twain, enriched by his own popular writings, undertook to edit and publish Grant's memoirs and, although the book did very well, he was so generous in the huge royalties he paid the general that it virtually bankrupted him a cautionary tale for publishers.
