Hank Morgan is a Yankee who lives in the 20th century. One day, he gets knocked out in a fight and awakens thirteen hundred years in the past. This book involves his adventures as he tries to bring England forward technologically and economically. Adventures include blowing up Merlin's tower, fixing a leak in a well, and escaping from slavery.
Morality
Hank Morgan is an evil and arrogant man. Being from the future, he believes he is the smartest character in the book and sees others as "smart animals." He hangs a band that performs badly, gets an innocent man whipped and jailed, and in the end, slaughters thirty thousand knights after warning them of his electric fence. He also shoots some knights with a revolver when they challenge him to a duel.
Other characters are murderous, unfaithful in marriage, liars... In general, the morality of this book is very low.
Spiritual Content
Hank Morgan repeatedly bashes Catholicism and Christianity in this book. Religious characters are portrayed as evil or stupid, and Hank blames the Catholic church whenever a problem rises. Also, Biblical passages are presented out of context to make them seem ridiculous and funny. The knights of the Round Table are extremely superstitious, and Merlin at least styles himself to be a magician.
Violence
Hank gets hit in the head with a wrench, criminals are hanged, a girl is hanged, a small child is almost hanged, knights die by electrocution, knights die by spearing each other, and a woman is whipped so that a "piece of her flesh tore."
This book has plenty of violence.
Drug and Alcohol Content
Men drink in taverns and houses.
Sexual Content
King Arthur's wife, Guinevere, sleeps with Lancelot throughout the story.
Crude or Profane Language or Content
D--n, hell, a--.
Conclusion
For me, this certainly is a depressing book. It has 400 pages of Arthurian language, a dreadful main character, and unnecessary sarcastic remarks on Christianity. Both for content and entertainment it gets a low score.
Editor's Note: Depending on the reader's fondness for Mark Twain, the sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek style of this novel may be enjoyable apart from the content listed above.
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