{"product_id":"huck-finns-america-mark-twain-and-the-era-that-shaped-his-masterpiece-9781439186978","title":"Huck Finn's America: Mark Twain and the Era That Shaped His Masterpiece","description":"\u003cb\u003eA provocative, exuberant, and deeply researched investigation into Mark Twain's writing of America's favorite icon of childhood, \u003ci\u003e Huckleberry Finn\u003c\/i\u003e: \"A boldly revisionist reading of Twain's\u003ci\u003e Huckleberry Finn\u003c\/i\u003e...Twain's masterpiece emerges as a compelling depiction of nineteenth-century troubles still all too familiar in the twenty-first century\" (\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the \"groundbreaking\" (\u003ci\u003eDallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e) \u003ci\u003eHuck Finn's America\u003c\/i\u003e, award-winning biographer Andrew Levy shows how modern readers have misunderstood \u003ci\u003eHuckleberry Finn\u003c\/i\u003e for decades. Mark Twain's 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, \u003ci\u003eHuck Finn\u003c\/i\u003e was written at a time when Americans were nervous about \"uncivilized\" bad boys, and a debate was raging about education, popular culture, and responsible parenting--casting Huck's now-celebrated \"freedom\" in a very different and very modern light. On issues of race, on the other hand, Twain's lifelong fascination with minstrel shows and black culture inspired him to write a book not about civil rights, but about race's role in entertainment and commerce, the same features on which much of our own modern consumer culture is also grounded. In Levy's vision, \u003ci\u003eHuck Finn\u003c\/i\u003e has more to say about contemporary children and race that we have ever imagined--if we are willing to hear it. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn eye-opening, groundbreaking exploration of the character and psyche of Mark Twain as he was writing his most famous novel, Levy's 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.\" (\u003ci\u003eUSA TODAY\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003ci\u003eHuck Finn's America\u003c\/i\u003e brings the past to vivid, surprising life, and offers a persuasive argument for why this American classic deserves to be understood anew.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLevy, Andrew:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Andrew Levy is Edna Cooper Chair in English at Butler University. He is author of the critically acclaimed \u003ci\u003eBrain Wider Than the Sky\u003c\/i\u003e, and the award-winning biography \u003ci\u003eThe First Emancipator\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50504490647826,"sku":"9781439186978","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_771bb317-55da-4715-bd11-75967d8fca7e.jpg?v=1730820725","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/huck-finns-america-mark-twain-and-the-era-that-shaped-his-masterpiece-9781439186978","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}