... . These are books which many censors feel are too violent and should be unavailable to student readers. Gray finds the thought of a violent book making him a violent person amusing. Inspired by the writing of Thomas Harris, Gray read more than just sports magazines that summer (Carvajal). ... have challenged the literary classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The American Library Association (ALA) claims that Huckleberry Finn was the most challenged book (Hentoff) until Harry Potter (Gibbs 65) due to its incessant use of the word "nigger" throughout its pages. For those who are coun...

• Word Count: 2931
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... to freedom of one's soul, freedom of speech, and man's philosophical ability to be free. Clemens would later remark in Follow the Equator, a book, which chronicles Twain's travels all over the world, that "It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakable ... would cover all seven continents He began this journey just after he had left the silver mines of the Nevada Territory. In 1972, Twain's next book Roughing It was published. It would be a chronicle of his days as a miner in the Nevada Territory. One of Twain's best friends ... . The Adventures of Huc...

• Word Count: 3292
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School

... , but also makes a nation's language lively and attractive. Just as Langston Hughes said:Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you.? (The book of Negro Humor (1984 £ ∘198). Besides such wonderful effect in standard speech, humor displays much more excellence in American slang. Its special language exists in wide extension. We ... horse's purse: prize £ •' cat: It rains cats and dogs.(the downfall) £ »Don't let the cat out of the bag.(don't leak the secret) £ »This book is the cat's pajamas (marvelous things) or the greatest;...

• Word Count: 3723
• Approx Pages: 15
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... recognizes the beauty, and the awe of the country but also flat out gives the idea that "the west is sacred, but damn dumb too!" The true theme of the book is not the idealized west, but of the promotion of the entreprenaurial west; of real people getting rich off western work. The author is Samuel Clemens going in, and Mark ... ...

• Word Count: 3497
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: High School

... the "guilty- and compensation of the "innocent."" But even the potential detective hero (Wilson) shows how easily one succumbs to a belief in racial predisposition when he notes early in the book how Roxy's superstitious drop of black blood causes her to avoid the fingerprinting process. [Whether we as readers, or Twain as author, are able to escape these myths of racial ... ...

• Word Count: 3141
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... first job was as a printer and 1856 as a steamboat officer. After brief service in the Civil War he started writing as a journalist and later as an author. His first popular book was "Innocents Abroad- (1869), followed by "Tom Sawyer- and "Huckleberry Finn- (1876). "The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson- (1894) was one of his last novels. After this novel was published ... ...

• Word Count: 3258
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School