Saturday, February 18, 2012

This Day in History February 18, 1885


This is the day in 1885 when Mark Twain published his controversial Huckleberry Finn.   Huck Finn was first introduced in Tom Sawyer in 1876.  Samuel Clemens (Twain's real name) wrote a much more serious book dealing with slavery and other issues in pre-Civil War South.

Even back in these times, the book sparked controversy.  Only a month after its publication, a library in Concord, Massachusetts banned the book and called it coarse and tawdry.  Other libraries continued to follow suit.  Even as late as the 1950's, it was called racist by the African American community.  Even in 1998, there were issues in an Arizona school when it was listed as required reading.

I will admit that I have not read the book--no because of the topic, but because I never got around to it.  I have read several books by Mark Twain, but the only one I really liked was his Joan of Arc book.  He is one that just did not really interest me.  But maybe I will read it one day!

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