A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court begins as a delightful comedy of contrasts. Hank Morgan, a practical Connecticut engineer, is knocked unconscious in a fight and wakes up in 528 AD Britain, where knights in shining armor joust, Merlin presides as advisor to the King, and the whole country runs on feudal superstition. Morgan, convinced he can "boss the whole country inside of three weeks," proceeds to introduce Camelot to electricity, railroads, and newspapers, transforming the sleepy medieval kingdom into something disturbingly like industrial America. But Twain isn't writing a simple fish-out-of-water tale. Beneath the slapstick and vernacular humor lies a vicious satire of American optimism, technological hubris, and the notion that progress is inherently good. The novel's dark turn forces readers to confront what happens when a man armed with 19th-century weapons and 19th-century confidence decides to reshape the world in his image. It's Mark Twain at his most ambitious, most funny, and most frightening.