A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (The World's Best Reading) - Hardcover

Mark Twain

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0895771853 ISBN 13: 9780895771858

Publisher: The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1984

Synopsis

When A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court was published in 1889, Mark Twain was undergoing a series of personal and professional crises. Thus what began as a literary burlesque of British chivalry and culture grew into a disturbing satire of modern technology and social thought. The story of Hank Morgan, a nineteenth-century American who is accidentally returned to sixth-century England, is a powerful analysis of such issues as monarchy versus democracy and free will versus determinism, but it is also one of Twain's finest comic novels, still fresh and funny after more than 100 years.

About this title

From the Publisher:

10 1.5-hour cassettes

From the Back Cover:

In this classic satiric novel, published in 1889, Hank Morgan, a supervisor in a Connecticut gun factory, falls unconscious after being whacked on the head. When he wakes up and finds himself in Britain in 528, he is immediately captured, hauled back to Camelot, and sentenced to death.
But Hank is a quick-witted and enterprising fellow, and in the process of saving his life he turns himself into a celebrity of the highest magnitude. His Yankee ingenuity and knowledge of the world beyond the Dark Ages are regarded as the most powerful sorcery—winning him the eternal enmity of a jealous Merlin. In an effort to bring democratic principles and mechanical knowledge to the kingdom, Hank introduces newspapers, telephones, bicycles, and other modern conveniences to the Dark Ages. But when he tries to improve the lot of the common people, chaos and war result, giving a bittersweet tone to this comic masterpiece by one of America's greatest storytellers.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.
• Publication date: 1984
• ISBN 10: 0895771853
• ISBN 13: 9780895771858
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 334
• Illustrator: Joseph Ciardiello