Kent Rasmussen

A writer and editor by profession, Kent Rasmussen grew up in Berkeley, Calif., where he graduated from the University of California with a degree in economics in 1966. He later earned master's and doctoral degrees in history at UCLA, where he also briefly taught African history. In later years, he worked at a variety of editing jobs, including long stints at UCLA's Marcus Garvey Papers project and at Salem Press in Pasadena, Calif. Through 2012, he has published five books on Africa, eight books on Mark Twain, and a number of books on other subjects. Rasmussen's television appearances include being a contestant on Jeopardy! in 1989 and Win Ben Stein's Money in 2003 and talking head interviews in several documentaries. In 2012, Rasmussen published his eighth Mark Twain book, Autobiographical Writings, in the Penguin Classics series. In early 2013, the University of California Press is scheduled to publish his book "Dear Mark Twain: Letters from His Readers," the first-ever collection of letters from ordinary readers to a major literary figure. His future writing plans include a book on World War I and ventures into fiction.