A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT by Mark Twain ✰✰✰✰

This book was not at all what I expected.  My thoughts were that this was going to be a fun, time traveling adventure along with a chap from the 19th century as he travels back to the sixth century.  The book was that, but it was also so much more.


Many of Mark Twain's beliefs about issues such as human rights, structure of government, and economics were interwoven through the story as Hank tries to recreate in the land of Camelot all the things and ideals which he felt would make for a perfect society.  It was readily apparent that Twain felt strong opposition to slavery and any sort of class delineation.  Numerous times in the novel the reader has pointed out how it seems that the nobility seldom seem to be the most capable members of society, yet they are lauded by down-trodden men who, given the chance, would far outstrip their abilities.


My favorite aspect of the book would have to be Hank's ingenious uses of modern technology and know-how to get himself out of scrapes and wow the populace.  In the end, Twain wraps up the story nicely and believably by bringing to the fore the one force that even Hank could not control.  I don't do spoilers in my reviews, so if you want to know what that force was, you will have to read Twain's ending!