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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Abridged) Audiobook
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(3.42) - 48 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
When Connecticut mechanic and foreman Hank Morgan is knocked unconscious, he wakes not to the familiar scenes of nineteenth-century America but to the bewildering sights and sounds of sixth-century Camelot. Although confused at first and quickly imprisoned, he soon realizes that his knowledge of the future can transform his fate. Correctly predicting a solar eclipse from inside his prison cell, Morgan terrifies the people of England into releasing him and swiftly establishes himself as the most powerful magician in the land, stronger than Merlin and greatly admired by Arthur himself. But the Connecticut Yankee wishes for more than simply a place at the Round Table. Soon, he begins a far greater struggle: to bring American democratic ideals to Old England. Complex and fascinating, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a darkly comic consideration of the nature of human nature and society.
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"This is one of the first books I read in my quest to bone up on the classics (I decided to start light). I loved this story of the Yankee who gets conked on the head and ends up in Arthur's court. I don't remember how he made it back again, but the story was definitely fun to read."
— Sharon (4 out of 5 stars)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court Listener Reviews
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" Twain has written quite a critique here of the way the church ruled everything in England in the 6th Century. While the book is full of humor, he really lays into knight heraldry and the church pretty hard, and also writes gleefully about killing tens of thousands of knights himself, which may have been a kind of comment on the mass slaughter of the Civil War, but which seemed bizarre from such a humorist. Twain experts will understand this, of course, I'm just a fan. But I'll take "Life on the Mississippi" any day instead. "
— George, 2/19/2014 -
" What a fun book! I love to be amused. "
— Terri, 2/18/2014 -
" It started of pretty good, but then the wizard Merlin came into the pic. I wasn't to big on the whole magic thing, And there wasn't enough good dialouge. "
— Meadow, 2/17/2014 -
" Had to read it for a book report in History not a very gripping story. "
— Steven, 1/28/2014 -
" Somewhat different than Twain's other book such as Tom Sawyer. Twain's humor shows through in the story but it deals more with political theory and human nature. Still it's a very entertaining read. "
— Deborah, 1/25/2014 -
" Okay, but Twain can do better. "
— Anne, 1/5/2014 -
" One of the most hilarious books I've ever read!! "
— Cameron, 12/26/2013 -
" It was interesting and funny but not interesting and funny enough to sustain me for 400 pages. "
— Emmi, 12/25/2013 -
" I read this book while sitting alone in a house that was very new to me. I found myself laughing so hard, my sides ached! "
— Jane, 12/25/2013 -
" I wanted to love this book, but the reader of the audiobook version made it tough to listen to. His voice made so much of it seem boring even when describing all the funny situations. "
— Brendon, 12/21/2013 -
" Mark Twain is such an imaginative author, all his stories are entertaining. I did enjoy this one, once I "suspended my disbelief" as we readers need to do LOL. The movie was OK, but of course, not as good as the book. "
— Carol, 10/31/2013 -
" Dragged at points but was generally fun. I hadn't realized what an interesting social justice focus this book had. "
— Michelle, 10/28/2013 -
" You ever read a book that just makes you feel ignorant? Try a time traveling Mark Twain book with an asshole protagonist visiting very specific unheralded time periods. "
— Kevin, 3/3/2013 -
" Mark Twain is the great American author. And though Yankee is not the best of his books it certainly rates high on the list. For me, because it deals irreverently with one of my favorite mythologies, King Arthur and the Camelot legends, it is a double delight. "
— Jesse, 7/21/2012 -
" Divino. Il sogno e l'incubo di tutti quanti. Mio sicuramente. "
— Orsodimondo, 6/11/2012 -
" Once I stopped focusing on the marathon long sentences (my only real beef with Twain) I really started to understand and enjoy this book. "
— Bryan, 3/18/2012 -
" I'm so tired of all the apocolyptic hoo-ha lately, but this one is the original American apocolyptic novel, and does it better than everyone else, poor Mark Twain. "
— Cberke, 1/27/2012 -
" I tell you what, this Mark Twain guy is a pretty funny writer. "
— Avi, 8/24/2011 -
" I just couldn't finish this. Not humorous. More like jingoistic bombast. "
— Patrick, 10/10/2010 -
" Very fun, but strange book. Still haven't figured out for sure how he got there. "
— Mike, 8/26/2010 -
" More like 2.5 stars. It was interesting and I liked Twain's social commentary, but I have to admit that it was a little long... "
— Brooke, 5/19/2010 -
" I read this book in school a long time ago but I remember that I loved it. It's a classic and everyone should read it. "
— Carey, 2/26/2010 -
" It has been a few years since I read this. It is the only Twain novel that I have finished and I still remember it. I will have to read it again in order to give it a better review. "
— Jeannette, 2/11/2010
About Mark Twain
Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel L. Clemens (1835–1910), was born in Florida, Missouri, and grew up in Hannibal on the west bank of the Mississippi River. He attended school briefly and then at age thirteen became a full-time apprentice to a local printer. When his older brother Orion established the Hannibal Journal, Samuel became a compositor for that paper and then, for a time, an itinerant printer. With a commission to write comic travel letters, he traveled down the Mississippi. Smitten with the riverboat life, he signed on as an apprentice to a steamboat pilot. After 1859, he became a licensed pilot, but two years later the Civil War put an end to the steam-boat traffic.
In 1861, he and his brother traveled to the Nevada Territory where Samuel became a writer for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, and there, on February 3, 1863, he signed a humorous account with the pseudonym Mark Twain. The name was a river man’s term for water “two fathoms deep” and thus just barely safe for navigation.
In 1870 Twain married and moved with his wife to Hartford, Connecticut. He became a highly successful lecturer in the United States and England, and he continued to write.
About Kerry Shale
Kerry Shale is a Sony Radio Academy Award winner, a narrator of dozens of audio books, and an actor in films as diverse as Yentl and Welcome to Sarajevo. He won an Audie Award for his narration of Q&A.