FYI

1.) Twain is represented on the list, by Tom Sawyer, and no author is represented by more than one work. If they were, I imagine Huck would’ve been included. So the question is really about the superiority of Huck Finn over Tom Sawyer as “America’s Best-Loved Novel.” 

2.) The 100 novels were chosen, according to PBS, via “a demographically representative national survey conducted by YouGov.” I haven’t looked at the details of how the survey was conducted, but protesting Huckleberry Finn’s exclusion is tantamount to protesting the poor taste of the American populace. I mean, E. L. James is on this list and Henry James is not. The Notebook is in, but not The Scarlet Letter. I don’t think PBS is making any claims about quality, historical influence, etc. It is about what Americans are actually reading in 2018.   

> On Aug 22, 2018, at 8:36 AM, Hal Bush <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Dear Friends:
> 
> 
> I got this email overnight and had not really thought much about the questi=
> on/issue.  Any thoughts out there??? Discuss . . . .
> 
> 
> Subject:"Great" American Reads
> 
> 
> Dear Dr. Bush,
> 
> I write to inquire if any Mark Twain scholars or societies have mounted a p=
> rotest against PBS for omitting The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from its=
> =93Great American Read=94 programming and to volunteer my assistance if po=
> ssible.
> I am a former secondary school English teacher and a current Jonathan Swift=
> scholar.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Patrice J. Smith
> Gettysburg
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dr. Hal Bush
> 
> Dept. of English
> 
> Saint Louis University
> 
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> 314-977-3616
> 
> http://halbush.com
> 
> author website:  halbush.com