The Mark Twain Forum needs a reviewer for the following items:

    _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Understanding a Classic_.
    Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1998.  34
    mins., color.  FFH 7968.  VHS Format.  Purchase: $149.00.  Rental:
    $75.00.  Prices include public performance rights.

    Few works in American literature address issues as timeless as those
    explored in Mark Twain's controversial novel, Huckleberry Finn. In
    this program, three scholars, including noted Twain biographer Justin
    Kaplan, examine the work and its various themes--race, cruelty,
    consequences of greed, meaning of civilization, and the nature of
    freedom. The author's life is traced from his days as a printer's
    apprentice, riverboat pilot, and journalist, to renowned author. Twain
    scholars Shelley Fishkin and David Lionel Smith discuss
    African-American influences from Twain's childhood that are reflected
    in the work, and suggest that these references, misinterpreted by
    readers, form the basis for charges that Twain was a racist. Incidents
    from his life, including his vehement anti-slavery and anti-racist
    articles couched in irony, provide convincing counterpoint to the
    charges.

    _Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn and Other Works_.  Princeton, N.J.:
    Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 1998.  FFH 7960.  CD-ROM.
    $149.00.  Price include public performance rights.

    This valuable scholarly companion provides in-depth information that
    allows students to gain a true appreciation of six major works:
    _Huckleberry Finn_, "The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," "The Man
    That Corrupted Hadleyburg," "The $30,000 Bequest," "A True Story," and
    "Sociable Jimmy".

    Featuring:

    - The full text of all six works, fully searchable by word or phrase

    - A screening room containing interviews with Twain scholars Justin
      Kaplan, author of the definitive Twain biography, _Mr. Clemens and
      Mark Twain_; David Lionel Smith, Professor of English at Williams
      College; and Shelley Fishkin, Professor of American Studies and
      General Editor of _The Oxford Mark Twain_

    - A network of hyper-links which illuminate themes in Huckleberry
      Finn

    - 10 essays including whether Twain should be considered a racist; his
      forays into publishing; his stance as an anti-imperialist; his early life
      and travels; his problems with international copyright infringements;
      the influences of his wife and of the Reconstruction backlash on his
      writing

    Special functions: All text is easily accessible with the "turn" of a
    page. Editions pop-up by moving the cursor over the text. Pages or
    portions of the text can be printed and added to portfolios.  The
    CD-ROM can be used with either Windows or Macintosh.

As usual, the review must be of publishable quality, and it would be due
within two months of your receipt of the book (i.e., due late-June
1999).  The deadline is particularly important, as we are making every
effort for Forum reviews to appear before print reviews.  If you are
inclined to procrastinate, please don't offer to review the book.

An ideal reviewer would be teaching HF this semester, and still have
time remaining to incorporate this material into a class or two, and
thus gather some student feedback.

If you would like to see the general content and style of Forum book
reviews, feel free to browse the archive of reviews, which are available
at TwainWeb:

     http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/www/forum/

If you're interested in writing a review, please send me both your home
and institutional mailing addresses and phone numbers.  If I don't know
you already, it would be helpful for you to explain in what respect
you're qualified to write the review.  (If we haven't exchanged e-mail
recently, it might be a good idea for you to remind me of this info.)

I look forward to hearing from you.

Taylor Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
Book review editor, Mark Twain Forum