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    A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
    A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
    A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

    Written by Mark Twain

    Narrated by Richard Kiley

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    A blow on the head sends a practical Yankee back in time to King Arthur's court in medieval England. There, his Yankee ingenuity and knowledge of scientific theories startle the Knights of the Round Table. In the course of describing his hero's adventures, Mark Twain, the great satirist, takes the opportunity to make objects of mirth out of the ways of the Old World, the chivalry of knights, and the pomposity of kings.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAudio Holdings
    Release dateJan 1, 2009
    ISBN9781601360717
    Author

    Mark Twain

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Missouri in 1835, the son of a lawyer. Early in his childhood, the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri – a town which would provide the inspiration for St Petersburg in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. After a period spent as a travelling printer, Clemens became a river pilot on the Mississippi: a time he would look back upon as his happiest. When he turned to writing in his thirties, he adopted the pseudonym Mark Twain ('Mark Twain' is the cry of a Mississippi boatman taking depth measurements, and means 'two fathoms'), and a number of highly successful publications followed, including The Prince and the Pauper (1882), Huckleberry Finn (1884) and A Connecticut Yankee (1889). His later life, however, was marked by personal tragedy and sadness, as well as financial difficulty. In 1894, several businesses in which he had invested failed, and he was declared bankrupt. Over the next fifteen years – during which he managed to regain some measure of financial independence – he saw the deaths of two of his beloved daughters, and his wife. Increasingly bitter and depressed, Twain died in 1910, aged seventy-five.

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    Reviews for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

    3.5/5

    65 ratings49 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Classic Twain with humor and observations that are still apt today.
    • 3/5
      Clever as hell. Twain always makes you think. The book is immersive, having the proper language and turns of phrases to pull one into the world. Really it would take someone of Twain's intelligence to pull off such an effort. Maybe not a big deal in his day, but in today's world, this book would have been impossible: today every one runs at an even keel that someone about 50 years ago set at "dumb". (As proof of this I ask you to consider whether Stieg Larsson or Stephanie Meyer could have written a work comparable to any of Twain's works)

      Of course I detest Twain's philosophy, but this book is a flushing of ideas and absurdities, and in someway he makes light of his own world view making them look quite ridiculous when you read it with the eye of one who has observed the last 100 years of world history.

      A very necessary read as literary art and even as entertainment.

      Well done, man from Hannibal. I hope your grave is cozy.
    • 5/5
      Pretty clear where "Army of Darkness" got some inspiration. Don't worry, there is next to no similarities except for conceptual similarities. This was a really good book. Enjoyable to listen to and think about. I really liked the distinction that was made between men and Men. Good points on the importance of free thought, fairness, and the idea that institutions should serve mankind instead of the other way around.
    • 4/5
      Mark Twain's classic time-traveling satire, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court follows Hank Morgan, a northern factory foreman, who finds himself transported back to 6th Century England and uses his 19th century knowledge to elevate himself to the role of The Boss, second only to the King. Much of the story serves to attack institutions in which an elect group concentrates power among themselves and so debases the lower classes that they cannot conceive rising up against it. The slaves Twain portrays in Arthurian England belong less to the 6th century than to 18th and 19th century America. Twain battles superstition as well, writing, "Somehow, every time the magic of fol-de-rol tried conclusions with the magic of science, the magic of fol-de-rol got left" (p. 287). Additionally, Twain's criticisms of the Catholic Church, and institutionalized religion in general, reflect his public comments on the religion and serve to foreshadow the story's grim ending.Twain clearly loves Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as he quotes freely from the text, even allowing characters like Sandy to relate tales of knight's exploits in lengthy passages from Malory. Therefore, reading Malory immediately before starting Yankee in King Arthur's Court helps one to better enjoy Twain's references and humor. This edition from Reader's Digest features gorgeous illustrations by Joseph Ciardiello that capture the absurdity of Twain's story with lavish color and action. The afterword by T.E.D. Klein contextualizes Twain's writing while setting it within the Arthurian canon. The leather binding ensures that this will look wonderful on any bookshelf.
    • 1/5
      I like science ficton, particularly time travel stories, and I like classic literature. So this book should have been a perfect fit for me. Sadly, it was not. I know a lot of people like it, but I just honestly couldn't hack my way through all of it and I gave it the old college try twice!

    • 3/5
      This was a funny classic from Mark Twain. The idea was enjoyable and most of the storyline was enjoyable. However, it did seem to drag on during parts. I am used to Twain's writing style so that was not the problem. He just seemed to get caught in words during some parts. I really enjoyed Hank Morgan giving his perspective on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table using his modern" 19th century eye. It was also interesting to read his perspective on the Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere love triangle."
    • 3/5
      Audio book performed by William Defris

      Hank Morgan is an engineer and machinist in 1879 Connecticut. After a blow to the head that knocks him unconscious, he awakens beneath a tree and discovers he has been transported back some thirteen centuries to King Arthur’s England, A.D. 528. This is the story of his adventures and misadventures in that bygone era.

      Satire is not my favorite genre, but I enjoyed parts of this satire immensely. Twain gave us images that made me laugh aloud – e.g. the knights in armor playing baseball or riding bicycles. There were also images that depicted the hard life of that time and place – e.g. the condition of prisoners, the ignorance and poverty of the peasants. Some images were particularly distressing (war and slavery). Twain also included scenes of great tenderness and compassion – e.g. the smallpox hut, or family life.

      Twain has our hero using his intelligence and expertise to amaze and convince the populace (including King Arthur and the knights of the round table) of his powers and superiority. But as he continues to make “improvements” (mostly for his benefit), he slowly but surely destroys the civilization he found. Imagine introducing telephones, electricity, Gatling guns, soap, and then the concept of a democratic republic into the 6th century. No wonder they thought him a powerful magician/wizard.

      I wondered for a while what exactly Twain’s purpose was, but as I read further it seems clear to me that he was commenting on the current political and social situations of late 19th century America. He has Hank campaign against poverty, the prevailing class system and slavery. And campaign for better wages, improved supply and demand, and literacy for a broader populace. I was somewhat disappointed in the ending. It seemed abrupt, as if Twain had run out of ideas. Still, I can clearly see how this has stood the test of time.

      William Defris does a fine job of the audio book. I loved his voices for Hank, Clarence and Sandy.
    • 1/5
      I had to stop halfway through the book. Twain was too effective in this book. I couldn't stand him to the point that I had to stop reading.
    • 5/5
      If you've only seen the Danny Kay adaptation, then don't judge this book by its movie. The novel is darker and deeper, with an outcome as inevitable as it is unlikely. Twain's witty take on the now classic, even cliched, time traveller tale is American Science Fiction at its best.
    • 3/5
      Mark Twain was considered a humorist during his lifetime and this book definitely shows his talent in that area. As the reader progresses through the adventure of Hank also known as "The Boss" we see items from the "future" being incorporated into the 6th century environment - knight's armor used as advertising billboards, newspaper (when most residents couldn't read), schools and factories.Slavery was a blatant issue throughout with both the Boss and Arthur ending the Slave market at one time. But the amusing details that Twain adds - Child's Name being HelloCentral, cycling knights instead of riding horses, pipe smoking seeming to be a dragon - all has the reader laughing and smiling throughout. I'm usually not a big fan of Classics, but this one was fun!
    • 1/5
      I picked up this book in a second hand shop, because I was curious what Twain would have made of this nice idea: a technically well educated 19th century man in the court of Arthur. I did not expect too much, and I was right to: the story is secondary to the political messages in this book, and the story is not very interesting. I read a lot of it diagonally - the book is very slow in places. A bit disappointing, and I wonder if this will stay a "classic" - I think it might quietly disappear in the mists of time.”
    • 3/5
      While I admit there were several funny scenes in this book, overall it is bitter and boring. Twain was angry at the Catholic Church at this time and it shows. The premise is awesome, but it needed to be much shorter.
    • 3/5
      I thought I would like this book. I like time travel and I like the legend of King Arthur. It didn't take very long however before I knew I wouldn't like it as much as I expected to. The big reason is that the narrator continually degrades the people of King Arthur's time as lacking intelligence. It's always brought up that he is the smarter one and everyone else is a bit slow. This bothered me. I don't believe in societies being more civilized or less primitive than other societies. As an anthropologist, it is a big deal for me that everyone realizes no societies is superior or inferior to any other society. Now I do realize that this book was written in the late 1800s, which was a time were unilineal evolution was very prevalent (Thinking that societies other than western society are inferior and that they are not yet civilized). And because of this I can see why this superiority is found throughout the book. It still bothers me. :) The book does bring up some very important issues about things like slavery, the effects of caste systems, and taxes. It turned out that was most of what the book was about; social commentary. I didn’t mind that all that much although it did seem to get slightly preachy. There are some fairy funny parts and overall it was an interesting story. But it didn’t really satisfy me. I do think it is a great classic book. There are tons of good discussions that could be pulled from it in classrooms or book discussions. I am glad I finally read it, even if I won’t ever read it again.
    • 4/5
      I'm going to disagree with the other reviewers here and say that I found A Connecticut Yankee largely disappointing. It's been said that it marks the transition from Twain as an idealist to Twain as disillusioned. I found him already on the latter side of that hill, and the text often came across as bitter and annoyed and not very funny, which isn't good since it's supposed to be a satire. Twain apparently blamed Sir Walter Scott for the Civil War because the South fell in love with chivalry as represented in his works, and so he was, at least in part, criticizing that. But that in itself tells me how mistaken he was, because I can't see Sir Walter Scott, over in Scotland, having much to do with the Civil War in the United States.Now, as to Huck Finn...I found it a hell of a lot better work.
    • 4/5
      When a “modern” 19th-century New Englander gets hit on the head and finds himself in King Arthur's England, it's obvious that there will be a clash of cultures. Hank Morgan doesn't think much of the average medieval person (or even the above average ones). From his “advantage” as a beneficiary of industrial age inventions, he sees the people of Camelot as simple-minded and superstitious. He does find one person with promise, a young man he calls Clarence. With Clarence's help, Hank surreptitiously embarks on an improvement plan to introduce the wonders of 19th-century technology into Arthurian Britain.Even though 19-century technology is no longer what anyone would consider modern, it's fun to see the anachronistic blending of distinct historical eras, such as knights wearing sandwich board ads or competing against each other in baseball. Twain lived at the right time to tell this story. He couldn't have written the same book today. It's just believable that a 19th century man could train enough laborers to replicate 19th century technology as long as the raw materials were available. It would be much harder for a single 21st century man (or woman) to train medieval laborers to build a computer, a cell phone, a television, or an airplane, and connect them all with the Internet.I thought I had read this book years ago, but only the first few chapters seemed familiar to me. Maybe I started the book but didn't finish it. I listened to an unabridged audio version this time. It took a while for me to warm up to the narrator. Or maybe it took him a while to become fully invested in the story. I also discovered that some parts of the book don't work well in audio format. Twain uses archaic language and speech patterns when the medieval characters tell stories. These parts of the book are difficult to follow in audio format. I would encourage most readers to start with the book and save the audio version for a re-read.
    • 3/5
      Like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Connecticut Yankee uses the literary and historical past to satirize the idealization of the medieval period and the fictions of Sir Walter Scott, which Twain held responsible for the willingness of the South to enter the failed cause of the Civil War. Hank Morgan works in an arms factory in modern day Hartford, Connecticut, but a blow to the head sends him back into the world of Camelot and King Arthur. Rather than idyllic, the world into which Hank enters reeks of superstition, cruelty, poverty, misery, and moral chaos, including slavery. The drama unfolds as the skill of Hank in manipulating physical reality transforms him into a demi-god, which in turns sparks his desire to eliminate, through all means necessary, the superstitious world that confronts him. This takes the form of a total war that before its time anticipates the carnage of WWI and the outcome of the clash between psychological ignorance and belief and modern scientific and technological "wizardry." Although the tone is occasionally clumsy, and although the book cannot hold a candle to masterpieces by Twain such as Huckleberry Finn or The Mysterious Stranger, Connecticut Yankee contains one passage, about the nastiness of attempting to live inside armor that is so hilarious it brings tears to the eyes.
    • 4/5
      A light hearted funny story about a modern man (from Mark Twain's time) who finds himself back in the time of King Arthur's Court. It is amusing. It shows what someone with today's knowledge of science could do in the middle ages. It also is VERY POLITICAL. Of course it talks about the politics in Middle Ages but also the politics in the 19th century. It has an absurdist humor to it.
    • 3/5
      Overall I found this disappointing. It had a few good bits in it, where the author/narrator rails against oppression and injustice and a few moving and horrifying scenes depicting said oppression and injustice. However, these were surrounded by oceans of silliness in which the author is preoccupied with reproducing the details, both good and bad, of 19th century American society into 6th century England (of course, it is not really 6th century England, as it is the Thomas Malory depiction of King Arthur in the style of high Medieval chivalry). Despite his self-proclaimed lofty ideals and opposition to the violence of the era, the narrator uses violence himself and casually causes the deaths of 25,000 knights in the final battle. This may be authorial comment on 19th century white American treatment of the native American and Black populations, but I rather doubt it - it all seems too trivial to be satirical.
    • 4/5
      This was good fun and had a surprising amount of social commentary whenever Hank (the Boss) Morgan was trying to educate his 6th century Britons on the evils of slavery, class structures and religious intolerance. Although you'll think of it all as a fantasy dream, the ending actually has plausible magician-like twist that provides an explanation for the "time forward" part of the trip.You of course have to suspend belief that a late 19th century American would be speaking any kind of a language that 6th century Britons would have understood. The compromise is that most speak a Le Morte D' Arthur kind of English and Hank every once and while has to explain his futuristic words in plain terms.I listened to the 2017 Audible Audio edition which had an excellent narration by Nick Offerman.
    • 2/5
      With just a vague memory of the film adaptation starring Bing Crosby, some notion of the influences it has had on Doctor Who, and the cover illustration as a guide, I approached A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court expecting a typically structured but entertaining story of a man out of time and although Twain/Clemens’s tale begins in that mode, it quickly tips over into a far darker meandering satire on Western imperialism and industrialisation. The protagonist Hank Martin is a loathsome figure and even though the story’s told from his POV, I slowly became more and more protective of the Arthurian characters who barely seem to deserve the treatment the Yankee gives them. But that’s Twain/Clemens’s point I think; how the modern versions of us, apparently so sophisticated, are desperate to sap the magic from the world, be it in nature or man itself. A difficult read but a transportative one. This is psychogeographical literature.
    • 3/5
      A time travel book, the first? Clemens' view of the 6th century from the 19th is amazing. And, I was in awe that the words he used in the 19th century are good in the 21st...slang for example. 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 growth, child labor, and frightening new war technology. And,the final battle scene aptly predicts the great war (WWI). All of it applied with wit!
    • 3/5
      Sometimes rambling, but an excellent case against state controlled societies and the harm it does to the human spirit.
    • 5/5
      Twain's version of Gulliver's Travels, with wonderful satire on the nature of the modern world thrown in.
    • 3/5
      Funny and clever, until the end at least. Why all that killing?
    • 5/5
      An absolutely wonderful, humourous book. One of Twain's best.
    • 4/5
      Mark Twain's classic tale of a 19th-century go-getter who gets hit on the head, wakes up in the kingdom of Camelot, and proceeds to gleefully set about introducing his own era's technology and ideas about civilization to the Dark Ages (soon to be briefly lit by electricity).This isn't the first time I'd read this novel, but my last encounter was nearly a quarter-century ago, and apparently I hadn't remembered it nearly as well as I'd thought. I'd recalled it, somewhat fondly, as a comic romp, a humorous satire of both Arthurian romance and the social attitudes of the Gilded Age, as well as the predecessor of a zillion less interesting science fiction stories in which improbably ingenious time travelers manage to rebuild their own technologically advanced civilizations centuries early, from scratch.Well, it is all of those things. But what I'd completely forgotten is that it's also a scathing diatribe against monarchy, slavery, state-established religion, and the oppression of the poor, complete with lots of disturbing and depressing scenes calculated to bring the importance of these subjects home. Twain being Twain, it's very well done, but it does perhaps get to be a bit much. It certainly wasn't an ideal thing to read at a time when I was busy and easily distracted.Rating: Despite it not being quite the right book at the right time for me, I figure it still probably deserves 4/5. Because, come on, Twain.
    • 3/5
      Mark Twain's classic tale of culture clash. The narrator was great.
    • 4/5
      Twain has a wicked sense of humor, but his novels on social commentary tend to be even more powerful than his playful ones. My assumption was that this book would fall into the comedy category. Based on film versions and the general premise, it sounded like an entertaining, light novel. While there were some very funny parts, this is a much darker book than I was expecting. It’s both an adventure and a cautionary tale. There are also so many wonderful lines, zingers that I know I can always expect from Twain.The plot tells the story of a man who is hit in the head and wakes up 1300 years earlier in 528 AD. It’s the Dark Ages and King Arthur is on the throne. He has no way of getting home, so instead he tries to build a life in England and becomes one of King Arthur’s knights. The dark tone of the book seeps into almost every scene. Even when our narrator is using gunpowder to pretend to have magic, there’s always a chance that he will be killed for sorcery. In one section our time traveling hero is touring the countryside with King Arthur, who is disguised as a peasant. They come upon a home where a family of four is dying of a disease plaguing the area. They care for them, but it’s much too late to save them from their grim fate. In their dying moments they learn that this family’s misfortune, perpetuated by the local manor lord, left them destitute and desperate. The King is being forced to see the problems in his kingdom firsthand and it’s not a pleasurable experience. BOTTOM LINE: There are jousts and hangings, betrayals and jealousy; all the great elements of an adventure novel. I was surprised by how much depth I found and the bittersweet ending will stick with me. “The mere knowledge of a fact is pale; but when you come to realize your fact, it takes on color. It is all the difference between hearing of a man being stabbed to the heart, and seeing it done.”“Inherited ideas are a curious thing, and interesting to observe and examine.”“Intellectual "work" is misnamed; it is a pleasure, a dissipation, and is its own highest reward. The poorest paid architect, engineer, general, author, sculptor, painter, lecturer, advocate, legislator, actor, preacher, singer is constructively in heaven when he is at work; and as for the musician with the fiddle-bow in his hand who sits in the midst of a great orchestra with the ebbing and flowing tides of divine sound washing over him—why, certainly, he is at work, if you wish to call it that, but lord, it's a sarcasm just the same.”
    • 4/5
      It was good to get my teeth into this, having meant to read it for a long time. I enjoyed the humour, and the political commentary, despite not agreeing with it and preferring (with a somewhat guilty pleasure) the shining chivalric version of Camelot to the dirt, ignorance and stupidity of this world. Parts of it felt very ranty and not like a story at all -- like the story was a vehicle for the political rants. Which is the way some authors work, and I suspect I'll find it in at least some of Twain's other work, when I revisit -- as a child, I didn't see it that way, but children tend not to.

      There's lots of amusing ideas, and I kinda wish this was on my Arthurian Lit course to discuss -- I don't think it is, but you never know, I still might be able to write an essay on it...

      It's definitely not so much about Arthur/Camelot as it is about Twain's own day, though. Don't be deceived.
    • 2/5
      None of the other reviews have mentioned it, but I thought you needed a pretty strong stomach and a lack of empathy to get through all the tortures, deaths, and casual confinement of prisoners for decades. I read this book when I was about 14, and recently wanted to reread to see if my son would like it, but I think I must have read an abridged version. Way too sad for me.