Peter Messent is Professor of Modern American Literature at Nottingham University. He is the author of "The Short Works of Mark Twain: A Critical Study" (2001), "Mark Twain" (1997), "Ernest Hemingway" (1992), and "New Readings of the American Novel: Narrative Theory and its Application" (1990), and editor of "Criminal Proceedings: The Contemporary American Crime Nov"el (1997).Louis J. Budd is James B. Duke Professor (Emeritus) of American Literature at Duke University, where he taught American Literature from 1981 to 1991. He is the author of "Mark Twain: Social Philosopher" (reissued 2001) and "Our Mark Twain: The Making of his Public Personality" (1983) and the editor of "Mark Twain: The… Contemporary Reviews" (1999). He served as founding president of the Mark Twain Circle of America.