Huck Finn's America

A provocative, exuberant, and deeply researched investigation into Mark Twains writing of Americas favorite icon of childhood, Huckleberry Finn: A boldly revisionist reading of Twains Huckleberry FinnTwains masterpiece emerges as a compelling depiction of nineteenth-century troubles still all too familiar in the twenty-first century (Booklist, starred review).In the groundbreaking (Dallas Morning News) Huck Finns America, award-winning biographer Andrew Levy shows how modern readers have misunderstood Huckleberry Finn for decades. Mark Twains masterpiece is often discussed either as a carefree adventure story for children or a serious novel about race relations, yet Levy argues, it is neither. Instead, Huck Finn was written at a time when Americans were nervous about uncivilized bad boys, and a debate was raging about education, popular culture, and responsible parentingcasting Hucks now-celebrated freedom in a very different and very modern light. On issues of race, on the other hand, Twains lifelong fascination with minstrel shows and black culture inspired him to write a book not about civil rights, but about races role in entertainment and commerce, the same features on which much of our own modern consumer culture is also grounded. In Levys vision, Huck Finn has more to say about contemporary children and race that we have ever imaginedif 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, Levys book explores the soul of Mark Twain's enduring achievement with the utmost self-awareness...An eloquent argument, wrapped up in rich biographical detail and historical fact. (USA TODAY). Huck Finns America brings the past to vivid, surprising life, and offers a persuasive argument for why this American classic deserves to be understood anew.