A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (English Library)

What else can be said about Twain except great story. Imaginative work paralleling medieval England with Industrial America in the lat 19th century. Witty, adventurous and well written. I have yet to read a Twain book I disliked.

As with all of Mark Twain's work this book works on two very different levels. The first of course is a simple adventure story the second is a bitingly satiric work that unmasks many of the hypocracies of "conventional wisdom". I have to believe that most of his readers of his time (and ours) did not understand his underlying messages regarding society and its institutions. For me, it was hard to miss the way he unmasked the church, the state and society as a whole. I had to laugh out loud at some of the ways he managed to expose the absurdities of government and religion. This book is a quick read and is immensely satisfying if the reader takes the time to follow Twain's logic to its natural conclusions.

This is one of the most enjoyable, easiest reads you will ever find, and yet it may also be the most intellectual of all American novels. That Twain has managed such a mix is further proof of his crowning genius. The story revolves around Hank Morgan, a modern American businessman who is transported back in time. He is shocked by the backwardness, ignorance, and poverty of Arthurian England and decides that the people there deserve a "new deal." (This novel is where FDR picked up that phrase) The novel is mostly comic, occasionally tragic, and consistently compelling as it follows this quixotic scheme to its ultimate conclusion. The plot reveals Twain's brilliant insights on the nature of freedom; the trade-offs involved with economic development; America's role in world history; the interplay between capitalism, religion, and tradition; and the tragedies of history, without ever tipping his hand as to what Twain himself believes. And, of course, it is hilarious. The Yankee's misery while wearing armor, his bafflement at chivalric customs, and the bizarre contrasts between his modern innovations and the medievel world make for regular laughs. No other author could make his readers think so hard while laughing so hard. Recently, this book has gained an added resonance, as Twain's take on the Americanization of a traditional culture can be easily applied to our current projects in Iraq and Afghanistan. Twain ends his book with a violent insurgency against the Yankee intruder, and horrific bloody tragedy. Hopefully our project will not end in the same way.

In the novel, A Connecticut in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain shows the differences between modern society, and sixth century Great Britain. Hank is a self-assured factory worker who knows how to make just about anything. The protagonist, is mysteriously transported back to the sixth century, when struck in the head by a crowbar. He uses his vast knowledge of explosives and metals to quickly become a leader in the monarchy. His democratic thoughts and ideas become his ambition as he strives to make Great Britain a republic. Twain's novel shows how much of a change society has gone through from the sixth century to the time of the writing of the novel. He also show's how little education anyone received in the sixth century, even the members of royalty are not very wise. Hank's mediocre education is far superior to anybody's in the whole monarchy, because of the advances in education to the present. Twain shows that the laws of the sixth century were made for the few against the many. At one point a woman is put to death for stealing just enough food to feed her baby. Hank tries, throughout the book, to get the royalty to realize how unfair their laws are to the common man. This book makes you feel angry at points about the horribleness of the monarchy, yet ashamed because similar acts still go on in the present. An example would be how the rich and privileged still get the best of everything, while the have-nots get the last and worst of everything, both now and then. Twain has a comic sense in the book, and yet he still shows a contrast between the comic and the serious. This book should be a classic for Twain's creative portrayal of the sixth century, yet also because it makes us think about our society today.