Huck Finn's America: Mark Twain and the Era That Shaped His

Huck Finn's America: Mark Twain and the Era That Shaped His Masterpiece

A provocative, exuberant, and deeply researched investigation into Mark Twainâ€™s writing of Huckleberry Finn, which turns on its head everything we thought we knew about Americaâ€™s favorite icon of childhood.

In Huck Finnâ€™s America, award-winning biographer Andrew Levy shows how modern readers have been misunderstanding Huckleberry Finn for decades. Twainâ€™s masterpiece, which still sells tens of thousands of copies each year and is taught more than any other American classic, is often discussed either as a carefree adventure story for children or a serious novel about race relations, yet Levy argues convincingly it is neither. Instead, Huck Finn was written at a time when Americans were nervous about youth violence and â€œuncivilizedâ€ bad boys, and a debate was raging about education, popular culture, and responsible parenting â€” casting Huckâ€™s now-celebrated â€œfreedomâ€ in a very different and very modern light. On issues of race, on the other hand, Twainâ€™s lifelong fascination with minstrel shows and black culture inspired him to write a book not about civil rights, but about raceâ€™s role in entertainment and commerce, the same features upon which much of our own modern consumer culture is also grounded. In Levyâ€™s vision, Huck Finn has more to say about contemporary children and race that we have ever imaginedâ€”if we are willing to hear it.

An eye-opening, groundbreaking exploration of the character and psyche of Mark Twain as he was writing his most famous novel, Huck Finnâ€™s America brings the past to vivid, surprising life, and offers a persuasiveâ€”and controversialâ€”argument for why this American classic deserves to be understood anew.
Country USA
Brand Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2014-12-30
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781439186961

Country	USA
Brand	Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2014-12-30
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781439186961

Huck Finn's America: Mark Twain and the Era That Shaped His Masterpiece

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