A provocative, exuberant, and deeply researched investigation into Mark Twainâs writing of Americaâs favorite icon of childhood, Huckleberry Finn: âA boldly revisionist reading of Twainâs Huckleberry FinnâŚTwainâs masterpiece emerges as a compelling depiction of nineteenth-century troubles still all too familiar in the twenty-first centuryâ (Booklist, starred review).
In the âgroundbreakingâ (Dallas Morning News) Huck Finnâs America, award-winning biographer Andrew Levy shows how modern readers have misunderstood Huckleberry Finn for decades. Mark Twainâs 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 âuncivilizedâ bad boys, and a debate was raging about education, popular culture, and responsible parentingâcasting Huckâs now-celebrated âfreedomâ in a very different and very modern light. On issues of race, on the other hand, Twainâs lifelong fascination with minstrel shows and black culture inspired him to write a book not about civil rights, but about raceâs role in entertainment and commerce, the same features on which much of our own modern consumer culture is also grounded. In Levyâs vision, Huck Finn has more to say about contemporary children and race that we have ever imaginedâif 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, Levyâs book âexplores 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.â (USA TODAY). Huck Finnâs America brings the past to vivid, surprising life, and offers a persuasive argument for why this American classic deserves to be understood anew.