The Mark Twain Forum needs a reviewer for the following book: Howe, Lawrence. _Mark Twain and the Novel: The Double-Cross of Authority_. (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture 116.) New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xiv + 265. Notes, index. Cloth, 6" x 9". $54.95. ISBN 0-521-56168-X. The jacket reads: Mark Twain was an author both drawn to and suspicious of authority, and his novels reflect this tension. Marked by disruptions, repetitions, and contradictions, they exemplify the ideological standoff between the American ideal of individual freedom and the reality of social control. This book provides a fresh look at Twain's major novels, such as _Life on the Mississippi_, _Huckleberry Finn_, and _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court_. The difficulties in these works are shown to be neither flaws nor failures, but rather intrinsic to both the structure of the American novel and the texture of American culture. About the author: Lawrence Howe is Assistant Professor of English at the School of Liberal Studies, Roosevelt University, in Chicago. He has published articles on a range of topics in American culture, including Poe's detective fiction, the criticism of AIDS literature, and the films of presidential libraries. 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 early-December 1998). 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. 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://www.twainweb.net 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 Book review editor, Mark Twain Forum