Letters from the Earth

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　　Letters from the Earth was published after Mark Twain’s death. The essays were written during a difficult time in Twain's life; he was deep in debt and had lost his wife and one of his daughters. Initially, his daughter, Clara Clemens, objected to its publication in March 1939, probably because of its controversial and iconoclastic views on religion, claiming it presented a "distorted" view of her father. Clara changed her mind and explained her change of heart in 1962 saying that "Mark Twain belonged to the world" and that public opinion had become more tolerant.

　　The book is a series of short stories, many of which deal with God and Christianity. The title story consists of letters written by the archangel Satan to archangels, Gabriel and Michael, about his observations on the curious proceedings of earthly life and the nature of man's religions. Other short stories in the book include a bedtime story about a family of cats that Twain wrote for his daughters, and an essay explaining why an anaconda is morally superior to man.