I'm also often unclear about where sarcasm or humorous commentary ends and deep-seated prejudice begins. This is a major issue in much Am Lit before WWI (and after, of course); and it certainly is foregrounded in Twain and many, many other authors near and dear to the hearts of this LIST, I'm sure. I won't trot out those names -- for now. But I do think it is intellectually disengenuous, and possibly deeply offensive, to label it all simply "political correctness" as if that somehow, magically, solves the problem. Example: as I'm reading up on TR, American empire, the Philippines, WEB Du Bois, Teutonic myths, Saxon legends, etc. etc.... It occurs to me now, late in my career, just how prevalent and "in the air" these racial constructs ruled the day. I've lately read mush of Painter's accessible and wide-ranging book HISTORY OF WHITE PEOPLE, for example, and it's pretty good, and I've learned a lot from it. I'd love to hear anyone else's response to Painter's book; beyond it I can name a score of others worth digesting. It's sort of funny, and I suppose vulnerably confessive, if not pathetic, to say in public that even at this late date, perhaps I still do not recognize fully the harmful, hegemonic views of race that ruled America in the 19th and early-20th centuries -- how could I have underestimated them? how could I overlook that?-- but there it is. I keep learning more and more about just how sinister these attitudes were. And with MT, I believe the changes in his attitudes with African Americans have been well documented and well narrated. But with the Natives? hmmmm.... -- Harold K. Bush, Ph.D Professor of English Saint Louis University St. Louis, MO 63108 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h) <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>