In this classic satiric
novel, published in 1889, Hank Morgan, a supervisor in a Connecticut gun
factory, falls unconscious after being whacked on the head. When he
wakes up he finds himself in Britain in 528 — where he is immediately
captured, hauled back to Camelot to be exhibited before the knights of
King Arthur's Round Table, and sentenced to death. Things are not
looking good.
But Hank is a quick-witted and enterprising fellow, and
in the process of saving his life he turns himself into a celebrity of
the highest magnitude. His Yankee ingenuity and knowledge of the world
beyond the Dark Ages are regarded as the most powerful sorcery — winning
him a position of prime minister as well as the eternal enmity of a
jealous Merlin. In an effort to bring democratic principles and
mechanical knowledge to the kingdom, Hank introduces newspapers,
telephones, bicycles, and other modern conveniences to the Britain of
the Dark Ages. But when he tries to improve the lot of the common
people, chaos and war result, giving a bittersweet tone to this comic
masterpiece by one of America's greatest storytellers.
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