Arguably the first major American novel to satirize the political milieu of Washington, D.C. and the wild speculation schemes that exploded across the nation in the years that followed the Civil War, The Gilded Age gave this remarkable era its name. Co-written by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, this rollicking novel is rife with unscrupulous politicians, colorful plutocrats, and blindly optimistic speculators caught up in a frenzy of romance,...

Published in 1896, this work purports to be the found memoirs of Joan's page and secretary, Louis de Conte. Twain considered this, his last published novel, to be his greatest; his lifelong fascination with Joan of Arc made this a fourteen year project. The novel follows Joan through youth, then as a commander of Charles&;s army, right up to her trial at Rouen.