Mark Twain's satirical story about the revolution of childhood against the hypocritical authority of adults, the Penguin Classics edition of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is curated with a critical introduction by Peter Coveney. Twain's story refers to the journey of a boy along the Mississippi on a raft, uniquely expressing the voice and experience of the American frontier. When Huck escapes from his drunken, abusive father and the 'civilized' Widow Douglas with the runaway slave Jim, he embarks on a series of adventures that bring him face-to-face with feuding families and the deceit of the scoundrels 'Duke' and 'Dauphin'. However, behind the adventures, there are more serious underlying themes - slavery, adult control, and, above all, Huck's struggle between his instinctive goodness and the corrupt values of society that threaten his deep and enduring friendship with Jim.

Based on the first edition of 1884, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" includes a chronology and a list of recommended readings by Richard Maxwell. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) trained as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. The pseudonym 'Mark Twain', a phrase used on steamboats to indicate that the water is two fathoms deep (approximately 3.7 meters), is the name by which he is best known. After the Civil War, Twain turned to journalism, publishing his first short story in 1865. Called 'the father of American literature' by William Faulkner, Twain lived a colorful life traveling, experiencing bankruptcy, and enjoying great literary success.

If you liked "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", you may also be interested in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain, also available in Penguin Classics.