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Description
Mark Twain moves from broad comedy to biting social satire in this literary classic. Cracked on the head by a crowbar in nineteenth-century Connecticut, Hank Morgan wakes to find himself in King Arthur’s England. After using his knoweldge of an upcoming solar eclipse to escape a death sentence, Hank must then navigate his way through a medieval world whose idyllic surface masks fear, injustice, and ignorance. Considered by H. L. Mencken to be “the most bitter critic of American platitude and delusion…that ever lived,” Twain enchants readers with a Camelot that strikes disturbingly contemporary notes in this acclaimed tour de force that encompasses both the pure joy of wild high jinks and deeply probing insights into the nature of man. With an Introduction by Leland Krauth And an Afterword by Edmund Reiss Read more
Publisher : Signet
Publication date : November 2, 2004
Edition : 10.3.2004
Language : English
Print length : 384 pages
ISBN-10 : 0451529588
ISBN-13 : 89
Item Weight : 6.8 ounces
Dimensions : 4.17 x 0.98 x 6.81 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #40,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #308 in Classic Literature & Fiction #373 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction #2,382 in Literary Fiction (Books)
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Top Amazon Reviews
If you think Bing Crosby's 1949 movie was anything like Mark Twain's fantasy classic published in 1889...Forget It! Like the precursor novels,'Gulliver's Travels' written in 1726 by Jonathan Swift and 'Alice in Wonderland' written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll were made into movies that are barely representative of the original novels. The film starring Bing Crosby was a musical / comedy only touching on the very basic part of Twain's novel.Mark Twain's view of England's Lifestyle in 528 was very harsh pertaining to church and throne to say the least.On page 246, he says..." if one could but force it ( manhood ) out of its timid and suspicious privacy, to overthrow and trample in the mud any throne that ever was set up and any nobility that ever supported it". The book has none of the film's niceties, instead it graphically tells of unjust hangings,stake burnings, murder, slavery, and an unfair caste system. This is a brilliant novel written 113 years after the Revolutionary War and 24 years after the Civil War. The contents truly reveal Mark Twain's political and social views, which I think are worthy of the study they have received. For further information on his thoughts see: 'Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1, Reader's Edition (Mark Twain Papers)'. In the year 1879, Hank Morgan ( his name is only mentioned once ), an arms factory foreman, gets into a fight with a man named Hercules ( no, not him ) and wakes up under a tree in King Arthur's Camelot in the year 528! He is captured by the less then adequate knight, Sir Kay. At first Hank thinks he is in an insane asylum, but then as he is brought before The Knights of the Round Table to receive justice, he realizes that he really is in the sixth century. He is stripped naked and sent to the dungeon and sentenced to be burned at the stake the next day. The page, Clarence, visits Hank in the dungeon and is convinced by Hank that Hank's a super magician. Clarence becomes Hank's right hand man. Hank remembers that the next day will have a total eclipse of the sun. He warns King Arthur and Merlin the Magician that he will blot out the sun if they attempt to burn him at the stake. The next day they don't believe him and as they start the fire under Hank, the sun starts to go dark! The King wants Hank to stop it and become the second most powerful man in Camelot. Hank waits for the eclipse to pass and now becomes known as The Boss to the chagrin of Merlin, now a vowed enemy of The Boss. The Boss with the help of Clarence secretly starts many modern businesses, such as; a telephone system, a newspaper business, a railroad, army and naval academies, an arms factory, an electric company and an advertising company with the knights displaying the ads on their armour, just to mention a few of his enterprises. King Arthur requires The Boss to go on a quest with the damsel, Sandy, to save enslaved princesses from three ogres! It turns out to be a pig sty with three farmers. He returns to Camelot a hero with his now beloved Sandy. He then has many adventures in Camelot, such as; jousting tournaments with the knights armed with lances and The Boss with a pistol ( who do you think won? ), the blowing up of Merlin's Tower, the magical repair of the fount at the Valley of Holiness, and many more. At this point The Boss decides to go incognito with King Arthur into the realm of the peasants. They find many injustices and wrongs amongst the people, but before they can return to the castle, they are captured by a earl and sold into slavery. They are accused of murder and sentenced to hang. The Boss escapes and calls Clarence for help. The next day just before they are to be hanged, Lancelot and 500 knights arrive on bicycles to save the day! The ensuing years are good for The Boss, his wife Sandy and their daughter, Hello-Central ( that's right! ). Unbeknownst to The Boss, Merlin has made his family sick, so The Boss takes his family away from England and goes on a long cruise/ vacation to heal. That's when :The expression [the shit hits the fan] is related to, and may well derive from, an old joke. A man in a crowded bar needed to defecate but couldn't find a bathroom, so he went upstairs and used a hole in the floor. Returning, he found everyone had gone except the bartender, who was cowering behind the bar. When the man asked what had happened, the bartender replied, 'Where were you when the shit hit the fan?' [Hugh Rawson, "Wicked Words," 1989] This is the best part of the book, the last 100 pages, or so. I never could have predicted the ending. The interesting thing about this book is that Mark Twain is the narrator! The book starts out with Twain on a tour of the Warwick Castle. He is approached by a old man seemingly knowledgeable about the castle and the knights. The old man starts to tell Twain his story from thirteen centuries ago, but grows weary at the Warwick Arms, and before retiring to his room, he hands Twain the manuscript to read. This was a great book and if you only read one classic this year...make it this one!
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Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2012 by Rick O
Format: Mass Market Paperback
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (a book by Mark Twain himself) is the tale of a soul from the late 19th century by the name of Hank Morgan, who one day after a blow to the head, somehow travels back in time and finds himself in 6th century Arthurian England. With his modern knowledge of technology, Hank is able to convince the people he is a very skilled magician even outclassing the likes of Merlin and earns himself a very important seat in King Arthur’s court and becomes known far and wide by the nickname, “The Boss”. With his high ranking position and knowledge from thirteen centuries in the future, this Yankee tries to reform England from the inside. This book was strangely interesting to me, and for many good reasons. I read this book for a school assignment and finished it way before my project deadline (very rarely do I finish a book for school so quickly). I enjoyed how Mark Twain developed the main character’s conflicting attitudes throughout the story. For every moment he seemed very unsympathetic and mean there was an equal moment where he was the most fragile and empathetic being in the entire story. To me, Hank’s character represented the duality of human nature as well as its ability to adapt to a variety of different situations. Although Hank stated to originally hate and despise the culture and society of the time he was transported to, across the book you see him become accustomed to it as he adapts, builds relationships, and even, later on, builds a family for himself in this accursed time. But even so, he still holds the idea that his time is superior. It isn’t until toward the end of the book, but eventually, Hank is able to advance England with the introduction of the telephone and even names the child he has “Hello Central”, which is what telephone operators would say when you called the telephone office in his time. In the midst of all the comedy and satire throughout the book, that plot point was the big dash of irony that I feel defines Hank’s character and made him human and relatable. What I didn’t like about the book was the childish criticism about the Catholic Church, which wasn’t exactly wrong but was expressed in a way that got boring over time. The Church was a big part of the governmental system in the 6th century, and so as such, it has a large impact on the course of the book. The Yankee, coming from America where the separation of church and state exists as well as most likely living amongst more Protestants, outwardly hates on the Catholic Church and their toxic influence over the peasants of England as well as the nobility in his commentary. His opinions about The Church are well supported and reasonable, but over time it gets boring as he always seems to blame everything on them. It seemed like a very childish way of expressing his genuine distaste, and it got old when The Church didn’t seem to have a very direct role in the story for most of the book (though they do later on). It made me think of when in Scooby-doo they always say “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids,” except in Hank’s case it is more annoying and would say “And I would be able to revolutionize England if it wasn’t for that meddling Church!” Hank would also say it at least once every chapter. I mainly got irritated because it was the SAME thing EVERY time he mentioned them. But luckily, that was one of the only things I had a problem with in the book, and I have more things that I liked about it than not. My favorite part of reading this book was getting to experience the peculiar sense of humor that Twain littered throughout the entire book. The time the book was written in was full of nothing but tragedy, and we are constantly hit with the realities of slavery, disease, and great poverty that plague the land. Naturally, you’d think that a time with such suffering would be hard to make very comedic (especially to the point of making a reader laugh aloud), but there’s something about how Mark Twain utilizes ‘dark humor’ that makes parts of the book hilarious. There are two parts in particular in which I think this ‘dark humor’ made me laugh the most. The first was rather early on and broke me with a single sentence, “For some reason or other the queen had the composer hanged after dinner.” The queen in question was King Arthur’s half-sister, Morgan Le Fay, who is presented to be one of the most heartless characters in the book. What had me on my knees in laugher was how casually her cruelty was expressed. There wasn’t a reason specified for the hanging, she didn’t do it because he had angered her or because he had said something outwardly mocking her, she just did it “[f]or some reason or other”. The second instance was simply the title of one of the later chapters, “The Yankee and the King Sold as Slaves.” The King and Hank end up going undercover with the common folk, but in the process get captured and sold as slaves, not even selling for more than the average slave. While it is commenting on a very serious subject, imagining such a high and mighty figure such as the legendary King Arthur getting sold as a slave, being worth no more than about average, is priceless to me. While reading it I thought “where’s your divine right now?” Both instances are probably moments that in another book, could be the most devastating and intense scenes in the entire story. But with Mark Twain’s way of twisting the situation, sometimes you can’t help but laugh. Overall, this book has become one of my favorites out of all the stories I’ve read for school. If you are someone who takes books very seriously, I would definitely stay away from this book. But if you’re someone who is okay with a little bit of questionable humor that is in no way meant to be taken seriously, then I would definitely recommend reading this book. Besides the satire and comedy, this book also has a lot to offer in terms of intricate themes and complex messages that I feel can only be truly understood if you read the book itself. As the author of this book, Mark Twain never ceased to amaze me. I feel that through his writing, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court could potentially offer something to anyone who reads it and is definitely worth the time to finish.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2020 by Diane Malley
"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is one of those rarest literary treasures: a comedy that, for all it's hilarity, actually has both a heart and a brain. Not just a set of cheap laughs, as most comedy of any sort is, Mark Twain's classic novel enlightens as it entertains, throwing an unflinching spotlight on the darker elements of human nature both in the Utopian (to our eyes) Camelot and of modern capitalism and the American Dream. The plot is a familiar one in our age of sci-fi and fantasy, though it was innovative when Twain conceived it: Hank Morgan, an enterprising 19th-century engineer, is knocked unconscious and comes to in King Arthur's fabled Camelot. Bewildered but determined to make the best of the situation, Morgan uses his knowledge of history and mechanical skills to convince everyone he is a super-magician greater than even Merlin. Once ensconced as the King's right-hand man, Morgan sets about reforming the country into a republic, a sort of prototype America. Most of the book follows Morgan through a series of haphazard adventures which Twain uses to illuminate the great but often forgotten evils of the Dark Ages, including the abuses of the Catholic Church, the ignorant and useless ruling body that inevitably arises from a monarchy, and the pitiful working conditions of the medieval peasant or slave. Nor is Twain's critical eye trained only on the far-flung past. Though Morgan is essentially a sympathetic figure, he struggles to find anything the least bit admirable about the knights and nobles he must live with, and considers the chivalric code merely fit for derision. Meanwhile, Morgan's own capitalist code is in full effect, and he takes advantage of every opportunity to cash in his advanced education for the big bucks. Colorful and sublimely written, Twain's time-travel masterpiece is both a magical fantasy and a stinging dystopian satire. Don't be fooled by the several movie versions of this story, some of which are great fun in their own right. Yes, the novel is funny, often riotously so, but the humorous skin hides a deadly earnestness beneath, and the finale is far less optimistic than one who has first seen the film versions will doubtless expect. A deservedly immortal literary gem.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2002 by K. Jump
So much has already been written concerning Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" that any further review, especially by an unsophisticated critic such as myself, will only detract or confuse those that have not yet experienced it. As such, I will limit myself to criticism of the Kindle version and of the Critical Edition. I was a bit disappointed in this e-edition, although for 99 cents, one can't be too upset. The most troubling issue is the fact that certain portions of text, specifically the ones that are heavily indented and formatted, such as the section "How Lancelot Slew Two Giants and Made Castle Free", are unreadable and cut off from viewing control. In order to see the rest of the text (turning the page is useless) one has to reformat and re-size the font over and over again. Even so, most of this text is unreachable. The other disappointment was the lack of footnotes and annotations. I recall perhaps two or three in the entire work--most of what counts as "critical" in the Critical Edition are the two essay monstrosities that sandwich the work. The first is a brief bio of Twain; the second is a rhapsodic account of the "genius" of Twain. Neither are exactly relative to "A Connecticut Yankee", other than the fact that they are about Mark Twain. I would have liked to see essays more focused on the Twain and the writing of this particular work, or an interpretation or explanation of "A Connecticut Yankee" and details and feedback after its release. Unfortunately, none of this is present except that which is inserted into several small sentences amongst the generic Twain essays. Overall, for less than a dollar, not a bad edition. However, for sheer pleasure of reading, one would be better off dispensing with the "Critical Edition" and utilizing a free copy.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2012 by J.D.
Great book. Must read for all generations
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2026 by Robert Mcdonald
Format: Kindle
Mark Twain left no doubt in readers’ minds that he was an American. He believed in the Republic and an entrepreneur-driven free market system. The benefits of these political and economic systems are contrasted against the stifling feudal system that would have been in place in Arthurian England, and indeed in much of Europe into the Nineteenth century. Many norms and traditions of the medieval world suffer at Twain’s wit, including the Catholic Church, monarchies in general, tournament combats between knights, nobility and class-based society, and the political and legal structures that served the desires of the rich while ignoring the needs of the poor. The result is a sarcastic, witty tale of time travel and the introduction of Nineteenth-century technologies and ideas into that Sixth-century world. While known primarily for his biting wit, it is not all fun and games in Twain’s Arthurian land, and he brought forward several serious issues in his narrative. The author showed that he could write as eloquently about heavy subject matter as he could be flippant and irreverent on lighter topics. The most poignant and moving scenes involved a woman dying of smallpox in her home and a young mother who was hanged for being poor. Mark Twain may have had a bristly, acerbic exterior, but reading these scenes so tenderly described, one sees that the man Samuel Clemens had a deep affection for his fellow human beings, and that justice, mercy and kindness were principles dear to his person. On the whole, this was an enjoyable book to read. By today’s standards, there is not much action in it, but it is well-written and continually keeps the plot moving through the introduction of new incidents and characters. The Yankee, Hank Morgan, is a driver of much of the plot, and so it is easy to connect with him as he makes things happen in King Arthur’s world.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2015 by Jay Bower
What a great novel! Twain is wonderfully funny, yet his scathing social commentary concerning his own times are as serious as a heart attack. When a Connecticut Yankee gets sent back in time to King Arthur's Court, he decides his superior knowledge should be used to educate such an "ignorant race." Of course, we all know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and if I didn't know better, I would say that the person who coined the phrase did so after finishing this novel. The story's main character, Hank Morgan, is a likeable, if not laughable character, yet as most of us already know: absolute power corrupts absolutely. Once technology gets on a roll, the beast of civilization takes off running and Morgan cannot pull in the reigns. Total disaster ensues (incase you had not already guessed). This was a fun read and a look at a problem that is still very much alive today. Too much civilization can be like a disease, especially when those who are working to spread it find that they are doing it for reasons other than altruism. Also, do you remember the scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" when Indiana Jones whips out his gun to shoot the sword-wielding Sultan? That scene was surely lifted from this very book! Trust me, this is a novel for thought, but one that will not bore you. Twain was a master and this is perhaps my favorite of his novels. Very highly recommended.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2005 by Elvis girl
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Great book
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2026 by Zachary Robinson