The second half of the nineteenth century was a golden age of lecturing and speeches, and Mark Twain established himself as one of the most popular lecturers and speakers of his time. Throughout the country, there was a wide network of speakers on religion, culture, social issues, literature, and the arts. Twain first gave lectures in the late 1860s, and he returned to the lecture circuit when he needed money or when he was touting a new book, as he did in his 1884-85 lecture tour with George Washington Cable, which covered the Northeast and Midwest for over four months and thousands of miles. When he declared bankruptcy in the 1890s, his around-the-world lecture tour allowed him to pay off his debts in full, as well as to further spread his international reputation. He had a command of the stage and the audience that was gripping, eliciting riotous laughter, but also making people think about his comic but often acerbic comments on a variety of subjects.