A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs..., Mark Twain
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs..., Mark Twain
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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Author: Mark Twain

Narrator: John Rayburn

Unabridged: 12 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/25/2021

Categories: Fiction, Classic, Fantasy


Synopsis

The concept of this story was given in a preface by author Mark Twain. He wrote:The ungentle laws and customs touched upon in this tale are historical, and the episodes which are used to illustrate them are also historical. It is not pretended that these laws and customs existed in England in the sixth century; no, it is only pretended that inasmuch as they existed in the English and other civilizations of far later times, it is safe to consider that it is no libel upon the sixth century to suppose them to have been in practice in that day also. One is quite justified in inferring that whatever one of these laws or customs was lacking in that remote time, its place was competently filled by a worse one.The question as to whether there is such a thing as divine right of kings is not settled in this book. It was found too difficult. That the executive head of a nation should be a person of lofty character and extraordinary ability was manifest and indisputable; that none but the Deity could select that head unerringly, was also manifest and indisputable; that the Deity ought to make that selection, then, was likewise manifest and indisputable; consequently, that He does make it, as claimed, was an unavoidable deduction.

About Mark Twain

Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, Mark Twain spent his youth in Hannibal, Missouri, which forms the setting for his two greatest works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Trying his hand at printing, typesetting and then gold-mining, the former steam-boat pilot eventually found his calling in journalism and travel writing. Dubbed 'the father of American literature' by William Faulkner, Twain died in 1910 after a colourful life of travelling, bankruptcy and great literary success.

About John Rayburn

John Rayburn is a veteran broadcaster. He served as a news/sports anchor and show host, and his TV newscast achieved the largest Share of Audience figures of any major-market TV newscast in the nation. John is a member of a Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mario the lone bookwolf on January 22, 2023

Forget Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, this is Twains´ greatest work. And his unknown, shorter stories, all doing the only thing to make humankinds´ extreme stupidity and cruelty bearable, by satirizing them in a way no other classic author could or dared. Although some of it was released after hi......more

Goodreads review by Anne on November 14, 2023

2023 Like probably most of you, I hate to DNF a book. It kills something in a my soul a little. But I just really couldn't go on any further with this story back in 2017. Recently, I listened to a really interesting lecture, King Arthur: History and Legend, and the professor mentioned this and said h......more

Goodreads review by Kara on November 23, 2008

Most people think they know this story - but they don't - they just know the fish-out-of-water story that is just the surface of this book; this is really a story of about the biggest problems Mark Twain observed in his time period, including slavery, abuses of political power, unchecked factory gr......more

Goodreads review by Jim on July 30, 2022

I don't know why this book doesn't rank higher among the classics & isn't discussed more. Twain manages to highlight more of our human & modern society's ills & graces than any other book I've read. This is not just a man out of his time, but a journey of discovering just how large, fast changes, se......more

Goodreads review by Roy on July 19, 2016

I managed to be quite disappointed in this book. Yes, some parts are clever and funny, especially near the beginning; but by midway the joke had gone stale, and by the end I was elated to be done with it. The main problem, for me, was that Twain’s satire is almost wholly directed at the mythologiz......more