A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

About the book

Hank Morgan, an American accustomed to machines and practical problem-solving, finds himself in the world of King Arthur. Knowledge that seems ordinary to him can appear magical to his new neighbours, giving him opportunities to gain authority and attempt sweeping improvements. Twain uses the collision of periods for broad comedy and for questions about inherited power, education, cruelty, and the meaning of progress. Hank's confidence makes him an energetic narrator, but it also invites scrutiny of the methods by which he proposes to free others from their assumptions. The adventure moves from improbable spectacle to increasingly serious consequences. Its satire reaches both the medieval society Hank confronts and the modern conviction that superior technology must bring superior judgment along with it.

• Progress and power
• Tradition
• Technological confidence

Why read it

For a comic time-travel premise that becomes a searching test of the narrator's faith in modernity.

English text